The Truth Is Hard To Swallow
by UndercoverFungo
Summary: A darker look into Spat's past. This is mainly my version and representation of Spat, The Heart-Breaking Hamster. This is mostly for my Ask Blog on Tumblr. Note that there are Oc's that are there to represent the ham-hams, but no Oc will be romantically involved with Spat at all. This also contains supernatural magic things. (Visit my blog, AskSpat. Be aware it's nsfw)
1. Happy Lies

_**Happy Lies**_

-

The gates of the village's ground creakily opened, letting a hamster walk through as they shivered a bit from the cold of winter. Sure the place was under ground, but the hamster always felt icy to the touch, even in his light grey sweater. The hamster made his way down to the town's center, lifting his head up to look beyond the cover of his hood to examine the spectacle of a statue. The statue itself was crafted from what seemed to be marble, it resembled a brave hamster warrior whose blade was struck inside a large rat with a golden crown. Unknown to the hero in the middle, laid a beast like creature slinking under the warrior, preparing to bite a foot with long ghastly fangs. The beast has the look of pure evil and hatred in its eyes, while it wore a hat of arrow shaped antennas, pulling back as if they were ears. 

Voices of the villagers rumbled in the background as they lived their daily lives, vendors, friends chatting, and young hamsters playing knights or messing with old lost phones by humans. The back noises were ignored by the hooded hamster. All but one who spoke out to him from behind, " It's nice to see you here." The voice was a gentle one, letting the observer know they meant no harm. 

" I guess... They keep getting the statue wrong." The hooded hamster kept his paws in his pockets, still looking up to investigate the marble. The other hamster sighed and walked next to him with a cane of glossy wood. 

" I keep telling them that but they think it would be more exhilarating and epic if, The Tale Of Owen had him slaying the Rat King and dyeing by the claws of the fiendish beast of hate. I guess if folks around here knew the real story, they would not be as interested. I apologize." The older hamster looked over to the hooded hamster to get a look of the owner of the sweater. The sweater hamster glanced over to the other and smirked. The old fool still wore that brown vest, blue musketeer like robe along with a perfectly fitted gold crown. 

The hooded hamster exhaled, " So... I'm just a monster to them huh?" 

The king shook his head, " To some. But to others since I still keep telling youngin's about the true story, that you aren't a monster. Your just a heartbroken hamster who fell into hatred. Some pity you but if I said who, you would throw a hissy fit... I take it you came back to reminiscent on the past again?" 

" Only because it's near the festival of the anniversary of 'The Great Owen slaying Tyrant Rexford, to get the rightful king back in to his place. But yes." The hooded hamster looked down as he answered the king. 

The king smiled gently, " As you do... Don't worry, I'll try to distract the guards from bothering you as long as I can. These days the guards are so jumpy at hooded youngin's. But please do hurry, we don't want another incident." 

The hooded hamster scoffed as he rolled his hidden eyes under the hood, " Pth, they started it when they threw a spear at me. Not my fault I snatched their eye out." 

" Just don't take too long please. And by the way, here, the missus knew you'd visit." The king handed the hooded hamster a small box of cooked sunflower seeds seasoned in what smelled like caramel. The crowned hamster smiled as he wobbled off using his cane to move to the barracks. 

The hooded hamster sat on a bench not far from the statue, pulling out the seeds, sniffing it to get a full scent of sweetness before licking the caramel off. His eyes closed as he remembered that he had to suck to get milk when he was a young pup...

-

 **Years ago**

A tiny furless pink looking blob nestled itself under the cage's bedding to hide from itself away from the violent vibrations it felt under its stubby feet, as well to not be covered in an unknown feeling of liquid pouring down it's back. Some muffled sounds were heard from someone being frantic to grab the attention of someone else. Calm mumbles hushed down the intense and loud sounds. 

However for the one doing all this could be heard perfectly, a rather large hamster nibbled up some meat dripping down it's jaw and onto the soft bedding. A girl watched in horror and dismay as the hamster devoured it's brand new babies. " Chad ... Wh-why is she doing this? I don't have anything that should cause her stress or fear. She has plenty of food and water that she enjoys. Her cage is properly large enough for her babies. I didn't touch any of the babies to make her confused with an unknown scent. Hell, I didn't even get excited or take pictures so she wouldn't be stressed when they came out. I don't get it." 

A young man lowered down to his girlfriend, brows furrowing as he examined the soon to be over carnage, " Hrm... Well it might be because she thinks she can't look after all of them. Some hamsters eat their young if they don't think they can maintain the brood. And I'm not seeing any else. I mean it is her first time" 

The girl looked over to him with a stern look on her face, " Yeah well, Annabelle, Marcy, and Gwen just had their first batch too..." 

The boyfriend adjusted his glasses a bit, " Guess she doesn't have that much confidence in herself to uphold her babies. Animals can be like people sometimes, some don't think they can manage certain things an-Oh! Hey look." He pointed carefully to some bedding in the cage shuffling about. The mother hamster seemed to have been done downing her young and was about to clean herself until she noticed the area Chad pointed at. She grumbled to herself before unveiling a very small pink baby hiding from her. Without hesitation she grabbed the tiny hamster with her paws before shoving it into her mouth. Of course she got a gasped response from the humans, but she decided to ignore it. The baby squirmed in her mouth as she was about to bite down on its tender hide. Though she stopped and looked over at three other large aquariums around the room, watching as the other mothers were taking care of their new week old pups. The mother hamster slowly but surely spat out her last baby carefully before cleaning it from her own drool. 

" Oh thank god, she spat it out. Well Kim-Kim, looks like you're a mother of one, I guess." Both humans sighed in relief.

-

 **Three Weeks Later**

" Mom, mom, hey mom, look, Lydia and Chad are talking about some place new for me to be able to play with Miss Annabelle's an-and Miss Marcy's, and Miss Gwen's kids! I'm so excited!" A tiny mellowed hamster with a cracked egg design of black covering it's rump ran about the soft bedding around it's mother who had been laying down for a while. The mother smiled, watching her only pup fuss around his tiny mohawk like stubble on his head. 

" Calm down honey, I'm sure their all excited as you." She coughed out a bit, still happy to see her only child still be hyped up. 

" He-Hey mom. How come the others ha-have siblings?" The tiny hamster sat down next to his mother. 

The mother frowned, her son was far too young to learn the concept of death, and would rather not want him to leave on a sour note about her, " Well sweetie... A monster came and gobbled them up like sunflower seeds, then whisked them away so that it could raise them to be wild hamsters since it never had babies for itself. Then it got you, but it spat you back out, because it knew *cough* that I wanted at least one." 

" Woooow, that's a weird story. But I'd rather have a nice home instead of living in the wild w-where cats are! You're so brave mom!" 

The mother grabbed the tiny hamster, licking his stubby mohawk to groom him, " Yes, yes. Now come here, let's get you nice and clean before you go." 

The tiny hamster flailed for a moment not wanting his head to be messed with, " Awww, mom! Your ruining my groove! Sides I-I was spat out by a monster, ewww!" 

The older hamster placed him down and laughed only to go into a coughing fit. She poked the tip of his nose playfully, " Yes, and that's why I named you Spat. Now remember to have fun okay?" 

The smaller hamster nodded before nuzzling up against his mother's fur, " An-And I won't forget y-you either!" The mother embraced her only child in a hug before a large container was placed onto the human's bed. 

The girl clasped her hands, " Alright guys, time to go to Grandpa's!" The woman gently and carefully picked each baby from the other cages and into the soft bedded box before opening the mother with one's cage. She carefully laid her palm out, letting Spat climb onto it. He turned his way waving to his mother who weakly waved back as he was lifted out from the cage and into the box, finally able to run and play with those near his age. Lydia closed the box with holes on the top before picking it up and walking out with it. One hamster whose cage was near the window, looked out and waved to the others letting them know the car was gone and the coast was clear. Once the owner was gone the other three mothers quickly opened their cage's and ran to Kim's cage, opening it up and going in to check up on their friend. 

" I know it's been rough Kimberly, but, you did it! We're so proud of you!" One by one they walked to the mother who was still laying down. 

" Yeah, you proved dad wrong, you managed to raise one pup." Another choked out, " Our baby sister did it... Mom would be proud of you." Tears swelled into her eyes before she started to cry out and walk away. 

The other two patted their sensitive sister before turning their attention to weakly laying down one, " You know, you didn't have to be a breeder hamster right? You could have turned down that guy. You knew this would happen." 

The weak hamster sighed, " Yeah I know. But I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. I could raise a pup. Even if it meant getting rid of the safety for my health. You know I never think highly of myself. I didn't want to end up all alone and never experience love for a child. I'm sure he's going to make it through, even for being a runt... I'm getting sleepy." 

" We understand Kimberly. Just rest up okay? We love you." The eldest sister sat next to her sickly sister, being joined by the other two shortly after. 

Meanwhile the box of rambunctious hamsters were soon moved into a large aquarium filled with many toys, food, and water. Spat flopped out from the box and into the new bedding, cuddling into it and sniffing it's sweet cedar scent before sighing in pleasantness. Over head an old man smiled to the young lady, " Thank you Lydia, I'm sure they'll all be shipped out to new homes. Speaking of which, isn't that one a bit to small?" 

" He's a runt grandpa, but I'm sure he'll be fine, though Kim-Kim hasn't moved a whole lot." The girl sighed as she rubbed her own arm looking down, knowing that the mother hamster had gotten fairly sick. 

The elderly man frowned, seeing his granddaughter was a bit upset over the ordeal, " All in all, she did at least rear up one baby. Don't worry, I'll take care of him carefully." He reassured her, making her lips curl into a light smile.

-

 **A Month Or So Later**

All the bred hamsters had been adopted except for the runt who now had the whole cage to himself. He huddled into the bedding, missing all the others he got to know and play with. He wondered why no one picked him or why he didn't get put back with his mom. Tears stung at his eyes as he sat up to look out the window nearby. No people walked in, but he did manage to catch a glimpse of three hamster wandering the large room. He was shocked as he recognized them, " Hi Miss Annabelle, Miss Marcy, and Miss Gwen! Why are you outside your house?!" 

The three looked up, not expecting the young runt to still be there after what seemed to be so long. They quickly climbed up to greet him, " Well, when the humans are gone we typically like to roam around and chat deary. Why are you still here?" 

The small hamster shrugged behind the glass, " I don't know. Everyone else g-got picked up. Old Mister Felix said something about I'm a runt and wouldn't survive being moved, whatever that means. I wonder if I'll get to go back to mama!" Spat ruffled up his cheeks excited at the idea to be with his mother, and being oblivious to the wording the old man kept telling people. 

One of the sister's smile died down into worry, " Uhm. Spat, a runt is well... A kid that is normally sick, weak, and very small. They need very special care." 

" So I'm still here because I'm special? Well, I guess that makes sense, but will I get to see mama again? She's special too! She kept coughing s-so she's special like me right?!" He happily waved his tiny arms about only to receive more concerned looks from the others. 

" Uhm... Spat honey, she's gone..." 

It took a moment before the young hamster's confused frown turned into a smile, " Oh! She must have got scooped up by a monster and taken with my brothers an-and sisters to live as wild hamsters!" The three sisters looked to one another, even more concerned and worried just before one of them nodded, not wanting to let Spat know she had passed away from a sickness of childbirth, as well as not letting him know he would never be able to bought. Just as they were about to comfort him into thinking happy thoughts the door opened, making the bell above chime, warning the sisters to hide in a drawer that happen to be opened with scraps of messed papers. 

The person who walked in was just a fellow worker, Spat knew him well, though he always seemed to be moving around in different ways as two strings stuck out from his ears. The worker always wore the same shoes, red hat, and worker apron as he made noises to an unknown beat. The worker moved over to the large cage, picking up some boxes under the table where the cage sat. Upon getting up, he bumped into the table and waltzed into another room bobbing his head with the boxes in his arms. The old table shook, sliding the aquarium down onto the floor, crashing into glass shards and bedding. The sisters gasped and ran out to look down to the floor for any signs of Spat. 

Some bedding rustled before the young hamster popped his head out, along with the rest of his body. Spat looked around, never being out of a cage was stunning, and since he had just learned the sisters always did it, it could be his first time. " SPAT?! OH MY GOODNESS ARE YOU OKAY?!" 

He looked up to the frightened sisters before smiling to them and waving, " Of course I am! Well, I'll see you later! I'm goin-going to go look for Mama! Bye!" The tiny hamster sprinted off to a small crack at the door. 

The sisters cried out shouting for him to come back, but the worker soon came back to notice the mess he had caused. This made the sisters hide once more as Spat looked over at the worker who seemed to be full of fear. Not understanding the crisis he shrugged it off and squeezed out the hole, venturing into a small tunneled grate system under the sidewalk. With a deep breath he began his trek. 

It took a long time but the runt managed to make it to a heavily wooded area, all the sights, sounds, and scent filled up with amazement. That was until he yawned tiredly, as his stomach started to rumble, " Hmm, I should have brought some food... What do wild hamsters eat?" He questioned to himself trying to nibble on rocks, flowers, and an acorn. With the acorn he was able to pierce the shell like a seed, but it was still rough to open. 

A somewhat large shadow move over his own tiny shadow, making him turn around and look up at a large orange furred squirrel. He gasped once he saw the perked up ears and the amazingly puffed up tail that wriggled side to side, " Woah. Hello there! I like your tail! Do you know how to open this?" He held out the acorn, making the squirrel twitch happily, it's eyes darted at the acorn. The fidgeting paws of the squirrel reached out to snatch it away from him, only for them to be hit with a small pebble that came from nowhere. It yelped and scurried up a tree, " Wait come back!" 

" Kid, what the hell are you doing?!" A voice spoke up from behind a plant. Spat turned over to see a orange and light golden tinted hamster who was a bit bigger than the hamsters he was use to. Spat watched as the hamster walked over to him. The stranger wore a small leathered vest as a string wrapped around his chest carrying something on his back. " Did no one teach you how to harvest?! Don't give those nutjobs acorns! This is our field for food, not theirs, they can go across the park to get some." 

Spat blankly watched the older hamster, blinking and tilting his head in confusion, " Wha-What's a squ-squirrel?" The orange furred hamster knelt down and sniffed Spat like his mother would, receiving a giggle. 

" You're not with the village. Who are you? How did you get here?" 

Spat smiled to the new hamster, " I'm looking for my mama, she was taken with my siblings t-to be a wild hamster! A lo-lonely monster took them and taught them t-to be wild hamsters! I-I didn't get picked by people, and was le-let go after my glass home broke." 

The orange one rubbed his paw over his forehead, he had heard the monster taking hamsters to grow as domestic pets for wild hamsters, so he put two and two together, knowing it was just like those stories, only the other way round. Telling a kid about death was much to morbid and would easily depress them, " Oi... Oh boy, a domestic pup who has nowhere to go. Uhm... Look kid, how about you come with me, I can teach you some stuff and uh... Look for your mother. But you need to learn some things if you're going to survive out here." Another blank stare, " I mean... So you can be uhh happy out in the wild." The runt knew that more than the word survive and happily nodded. 

The orange tinted hamster made his way to a small band of hamster as he helped Spat lower onto the grass from being on some rubble. He waved and called out to the group, " Guys!" The group looked over and waved happily seeing their friend return, only to stop mid-way at the sight of the runt. They watched their friend help the tiny hamster make their way to the band, before he happily sat down on the grass to inhale some air, turning it into a joyful sigh. 

An enormous hamster sporting an eyepatch and belt gazed at the runt as he gazed back, " Uhm... Owen what the hell is that?" The large dark mellowed and brown muzzled hamster asked his friend, inspecting Spat. 

" Yeah, yeah, save it. You chew me out later okay? This little guy doesn't have anywhere to go, and it's our sworn duty to protect anyone in trouble, or are you forgetting our code again, Barnett?" The orange furred looked at the other, a semi-deadly glare in his eyes, clearly not wanting to deal with any trouble. 

The larger hamster grumbled, furrowing his large brows, " N-No sir. So what's he doing out here? I've never seen him before. 

" I'll tell you later, but for now, this little guys with us now. Anyways, that being said, kid, these are my teammates." He smiled brightly to Spat who was astonished by them all. " This big guy is Barnett. He's our big tough berserker. He's our strongest guy I know." Barnett huffed, looking away mumbling angrily to himself. He then waved his paw to two violet-like grey hamsters who had a peach texture on their bellies and heads, " That's Steen, and his sister Sondra." 

Spat gasped loudly, putting his paw on his cheeks, " THEY LOOK LIKE EACH OTHER!" He yelled out, never knowing siblings could look identical. 

One of the twins laughed out, adjusting his goggles that apprehended his forehead, " Yup! Some hamsters have twins like me and Sondra here! It's easy to tell us apart since I wear these kick-ass goggles, annnnnd that I happen to be right handed~!" Steen pride fully showed a black glove on his right paw. He was soon shoved out of the way by his sister who rolled her eyes at Steen's ego. 

She knelt down and shook the runt's paw, " And I'm Sandra. You can point me out since I wear this nurse hat and I'm left handed." She smiled warmly to the younger hamster before turning around showing him an elongated tail that was covered with soft fur. With this Spat's eyes shimmered in amazement once more. 

" I never knew hamsters could have fuzzy tails! It's so pretty! And fluffy!" He giggled out while Sandra bowed down before returning to her brother's side. 

The orange hamster nodded, " Yeah, Steen is our ahem 'dashing' sneaky rouge, and Sandra is our medic in case we get hurt." A reddish hued hamster with a dark orange belly made his way over, he was in the back reading a book, not knowing the commotion that was astir. 

He tilted his head, studying Spat, small glasses encased his large eyes as they scanned over the runt. " Quite... I am Minas, Sandra's boyfriend. I specialize in art, history, and so on." He was rewarded a blank stare from the young hamster. 

" What's a boyfriend?" Spat asked still confused to the point of no return. 

" Lover boy here is our smarts. How he manage to hook up with my sister is beyond me. It's when you like girl a lot, and I mean A LOT!" Steen boldly stated, getting a clear irritation from Minas. 

Spat scrunched his face up, " Ew! Girls have cooties!" 

Minas sighed as he held his book closely, " You'll understand when your older." The glasses wearing hamster went to Sandra's side, making her smile and blush. Spat watched them still confused, thankfully that confusion was cut off by a light brown colored and black spotted hamster with a rather large belly hiding under a bright blue musketeer like tapestry. 

The chubby hamster sat down, handing out a sunflower seed to Spat, " Hi, I'm Devine, nice to meet you." Spat joyfully nibbled the treat he was given. The orange tint hamster pointed out to the chubby one. 

" Devine here is my best friend, we've known each other since we were both your age kiddo. He's our nobleman and bard, aka a guy whose really loyal, friendly, and likes poetry." He chuckled as the two high-foured each other. 

Finally one last member who was preoccupied with something waltzed over, a small light brown hamster wearing two ribbons on side to side of her head, with a large pink fluffy bow sitting in front of an ear, " And I am Beryl, it is a wondrous offer to meet you young one." She curtsied to Spat who looked up at her. 

" Wow. You look really pretty Mi-Miss." His eyes sparkled as Beryl giggled to herself from the remark as she said something about Spat being too sweet. 

" This is our lovely athletic lady who can climb trees just like squirrels; the thing you saw earlier. She is quite breathtaking, I admit." The orange tinted one said. 

Beryl blushed up and waved her delicate paw, " Oh you~. Speaking of which, you haven't introduced yourself Owen." Before the orange hamster could speak, the gentle lady spoke for him instead, " This is our leader, Owen. He's the most adventurous, brave, and kindest hamster you'll ever meet." 

Owen rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed, " Beryl... O-Oh! Right, that reminds me, you got a name kid?" 

The runt nodded, " Yeah, my name's Spat!" 

Owen gave him an odd look, " Uh... Spat? D-Did you like give that name to yourself or...?" He began to trail off a bit. 

" No my mama named me Spat. She says I escaped the monster who took my siblings to grow up into the wild like you guys!" He smiled brightly, only getting some concerned looks from the others. 

Owen swiftly held out a twig to Barnett before he could say anything, " Well... Spat, let's take you to the village." Owen chuckled very shyly, knowing this might take a while.

-

 _ **Soon Spat would learn that some lie to their loved ones to make them happy.**_


	2. The Folk's King

The small band of mixed hamsters made their way to an enormous tree that shot out from the ground, trails of roots spread over the grass as each end dug into the soil. As Spat asked a numerous amount of questions, Minas gave him answers, for example what a tree was. This was going to take much work to teach the young hamster, and the group soon learned that. They made way to a large granite like rock sitting there, laying against the middle of the magnificent tree. Owen raised out his paws, moving two unseen doors that camouflaged themselves on the stone. Once inside the stone doors, the group walked down a tunnel that seemed to be going downward as a light slope.

At the end of the tunnel protruded a bright light shining through. And when they got to the end, the band looked over a huge town made up of cobble and metal. The sky was all around was dark brown, hard soil covered as a dome. Metal beams were strewn up to help the hard rocked soil stay in place with lights spreading all over with wires, lighting up the city. The city also looked like an island, water surrounding the sturdy dirt the town sat on. Many bridges made of wood, stone, and metal surrounded the island's edges incase of fire or rubble falling. And right smack dab in the middle was light from what looked to be from the heavens itself, lighting up from the middle of the dome.

The small hamster was so amazed and mesmerized that the largest hamster had to pick him up, placing him on his heft shoulders in order to move on. After crossing one of the many bridges, sights, sounds, and smells filled into Spat. The town was medieval built, but with a mix of future technology seeing as the light above needed electricity. There were many hamsters doing lots of things Spat found unique. Some chatted, some were building, some sold items as vendors, some played in the grass that was grown, and some worked in tiny fields. Vendors as well as children waved to the band, welcoming them back from their expedition. Apparently the whole place knew the group by heart, seeing as one or two vendors tossed them some free food, getting a gratifying thank you from them.

They moved on, getting to the center of the village. There in the middle sat a large marbled statue of what seemed to be a king of some sort, but a much older hamster, ears drooped down, squinty eyes behind glasses, a cane, and a fairly long beard. The heavenly light came from above, Spat squinted to see the tiny middle of the tree to be hollow, mirrors built into the tree to let the sun's ray of light shoot down onto the statue. Many shops were planted around the center's edge, as well as fountains and benches for passer bys.

But the band didn't stop there, they still kept shoveling along, finally reaching a walled up area with a giant gate. Behind the gate was the biggest building Spat laid his eyes on... Well Hamster made that is. The building was made of pure brick with several towers splayed with fancy roofing, a monumental castle. Owen pushed opened the gate's doors just like the hidden stone doors, leading the band to the courtyard that has plants and flowers for the size of rodents to tend to, along with hedges and tiny saplings.

A hamster with light strawberry peach mix fur color waddled over to the group holding a broom, " Welcome back! Hm? Who's the little guy? New babe down the lane?"

The orange tinted hamster shook his head, " No, no, Iris. We found him by himself out the dome, this is Spat." Barnett set the tiny hamster down who instinctively moved behind Owen, intimidated by the wonderful place, while he only use to live in a cage which wasn't that glamorous. " Spat this is Iris, the royal maid. She helps clean up our home. Speaking of our home, Yenene in?"

Iris nodded, a bright red collar looking scarf with a golden bell bounced about, jingling to the nods. " He's tending the plants around the side and, HRMF! Barnett! Your dirty as a boar! Come, your taking a bath!" She swept out a brush from out of nowhere. This made the bulky hamster take a step back before running off with the maid cashing him.

Owen sighed lightly, " You guys go on in, I'd like to introduce Spatty here to Yenene." As the rest said good bye before going into the castle, Owen went to the side of the building with Spat. Around the corner was a bright brown coated hamster, wearing the same musketeer as Devin was wearing. However this hamster wore a shiny bright yellow hat on his head. " Yenene!" Owen hollered out, making the new hamster put down a tiny flower, turning his head as he got up. The brown coated hamster walked to the two, eyes in a permanent squint hiding the eye color, while the crown's front glowed a sparkling sapphire, encrusted into the crown . " Yenene, this is Spat. He's a kid we found out the dome by himself. He's uh... He's got nowhere to go, and is uhm 'looking for his mom'" Owen said behind the tiny hamster's back, moving two fingers on each paw to emphasize the quote.

" Ahh, I see. Why hello there Spat. I am King Yenene, ruler of Root Town. Welcome to my kingdom young one. I'm very glad Owen's brigade met up with you, these hamsters are my right hand hams. Protecting, defending, and exploring for our great city.

Spat's mouth a gapped, he was meeting a king, just like stories and fairy tales his mom told him before going to bed, " W-Wow... Tha-Thank you Mister, Ye-Yee, Yen-ee-knee." The king chuckled softly before shaking the young hamster's paw. The king was very kind and nurturing, he was even a goof, thinking how Spat had trouble saying his name. The king's grip was gentle just like his mother's paw.

" You see little Spatling, here in the kingdom of Root Town, hamsters from all over are welcome to live here. We even help out moles, voles, shrews, squirrels, chipmunks, lemmings. Heck even gophers, jumping mice, guinea pigs, gerbils, chinchillas, marmots, jerboas, and dormice. Even rabbits at times as well. I take it you don't know any of those things but if you stay here, we can teach you."

" Will you teach me how to find my mama?!" Spat squeaked with excitement. Owen gave a soft smile to his king behind Spat's back, shrugging lightly.

" Of course. I helped the Band-Hams grow up here as well as teaching them. Isn't that right Owenlord?"

Owen rolled his eyes, pawing his cheeks from embarrassment as if the king was his dad, " Yenene don't call me thaaat!" He whined out.

The king chuckled, knowing how to mess with the leader of the group, " Exactly. Now then Spat. You have two choices. Would you like to live here and learn, or would you like to learn, live, and protect this town before finding your mother?"

The tiny hamster picked one without any hesitation, " I-I'd like to protect here s-sir! If I can learn about things outside and to protect others, then I can find my mama and pro-protect her!"

The king smiled, " Well Owen, seems like you have a new member on the team. Wait here for a moment." The brown coated hamster walked around the corner, leaving Owen with Spat. While Spat was happy, Owen was a bit worried on how to help the child. He knew this was probably another test from the king, since Owen did normally get into situations that were presented as a challenge, and being stubborn, he took them. Though this one was different, but to excel his foster father's challenge, would surely get him to be passed down the crown. Owen hadn't even wanted it, but the king saw how hard he worked, and how considerate the hamster was, that he told Owen that one day, he would be the new king to take care of the town just as he did for his team.

King Yenene soon returned with a red quilted pillow with golden tassels on its side. In the center lay a shining silver sword, with the site of it Owen knelt down as he always did when having a new member on the team. " Now Spatling, do you promise to never misuse this blade? Promise to follow under the orders of me and Owen? Promise to fight for what is good and right? Promise to protect the loved folks of this town? And to promise yourself that you will always be a righteous ham-ham?"

Spat's ears perked as he listened to the king's enthralling speech. With a deep breath he closed his eyes, opening them with a great boost of confident, " I do Sir!"

 _Spat learned that some leaders really do love their folk._


	3. Deadly Protection

After a few months or so, Spat had turned into quite the tiny and courageous explorer the whole team were made up of. He was taught many things, trained to wield a weapon, how to use his wits in danger, and to know right from wrong. He was still rather young, but he made up for it as the others did when they were brought up by their training and education. The tiny hamster had his first time patrolling the rural area nearby Root Town. The place was a normal human neighborhood, only, it seemed to style old Japanese homes as the sidewalks were cobble and the roads down the middle were a mellow colored dirt. He was accompanied by Owen, Barnett, and Minas, while the others patrolled the other area of the large tree that lead to their great city.

Hamsters often traveled about here as visitors, and it was the Band's duty to help anyone out or to protect the peace. It was a slow day, even though Spat had been pumped for his first patrol. However he was getting rather bored and would often swing a twig while he scouted around. No sign of humans as there was something big like a festival going on in their larger town. So the band didn't have to hide as much, but would just in case. Fortunately only a few hamsters had passed by, possibly on their own ways to the festival, Root Town, or just passing through.

Spat yawned loudly, shutting his eyes, opening them to have left over tears to wipe off. Once he turned the corner of a house, he caught a glimpse of something new he never saw or was taught about. A fellow rodent was across the small street next to a fence which closed off a large area, impossible to see what was on the other side as the wood was placed right next to each other with no gaps.

The rodent on the other end had a long skinny tail, and had much larger and rounder ears than any hamster he seen before. The rodent had somewhat of a bucktooth glistening out of its mouth. With this Spat stepped back and ran away from the area till it was good enough to call out to the others, not wanting to get the vermin's attention, " He-Hey! Guys! I found something! O-Or someone!" Within a few minutes the three older hamsters made their way to their newest member, " O-Over there around the corner. There's something that looks like a shrew, but it's like doesn't have a long pointy snout, an-and has these big, big ears!

Barnett cursed under his breath, " Damn mice. I thought they lived up the creek on Hiroshi's street up east?" He steadily took hold of his weapon of choice, a tiny kunai, made from the blacksmith in town. " The hell are they doing here?

The small group quietly scuttled to the side of the house, Owen peeking out from the corner, viewing the mice, " There's about 12 of them or so. Looks like their climbing over the fence to get into a yard. Minas, give us details. Is there any reason mice would be over here in the west?"

The reddish hued hamster fiddled with his glasses, a puzzling look plagued his face as he thought of an explanation, " Hrm... Not too much, it has been raining so the crops are good for the month. There's been no mention of wild cats since that one human decided to trap and bait them, sending them to the pound. With that being said, people seem to have been locking their cats inside just in case. No reports of a stray pack of dogs. Snakes aren't usually here at this time. Very little weasel activities, the rabbits would have told us."

" Minas, anything with underground or above?" Owen nodded to him.

" No, otherwise the squirrels and moles would have told us something. What they're doing here is beyond me honestly." He shrugged to his leader who sighed lightly, gripping his small sword.

Spat just listened to them before popping into the conversation quietly, keeping his voice down, " Wha-What are mice?"

The larger of the hamsters looked to him and snarled, " Vermin. Their on par with us hamsters except they can cause people sickness, transfer parasites, eat up food, ruin wires, and do some major damage to fields. Their like us but a bit more selfish. I mean don't get me wrong, their not evil per say. Some are domestic as well. But in the wild, they can be a little more bitter and harsh. They live on their side, we live on ours."

Owen raised his paw, motioning it to himself, " Time to find out." The group followed behind him as he made way to the mischief of mice, " Hamha there! We're from Root Town. Now gentlemice." He clasped his paws together, " What are you doing on this side of town? Is there any trouble at your kingdom? Running low on food? Or just trying to collect shiny things from houses like magpies?"

Only 6 remained on the side of the fence, where as the others had made their way over the fence, one mouse walked over to Owen, " Aye! We been 'avin' a lil' trouble back home. We just be gettin' some left ova' change in houses under fridges n' what not. N' trust us, we brought disinfectant. Dun' wanna' put humans at any risk, yeah?"

" What's the reason for copper and silver?" Owen piped up to the mouse, who seemed rather kind-hearted. Barnett kept a glare on the one, watching the other climb over the fence. The smaller more intelligent hamster puts an arm in front of the bulky one.

" Aye, aye, that! See somethin' goin' on around home, some type a gas. Maybe just the air, but some things have been changin' 'round there. Ain't lookin' good. If we collect somethin' shiny, clean it up, we can trade it to some gophers or crows n' what have ya. If we do that, we can go back to helpin' our own town. We came 'ere 'cuz, well there be some type a festival goin' 'round in our parts. So sorry to be of a bother." The mouse took off his cap, putting it to his chest before bowing his head as respect to Owen.

Owen sniffed him silently before the mouse put his cap back on, Barnett ready to go, " Their clean." The huger hamster groaned, thinking he would have a challenge today. " Alright, on you go, if you have any trouble feel free to visit Root Town." The mouse nodded and scurried up fence.

Barnett nearly shoved Owen to the ground, " What are you, crazy?! You can't just invite a stinking mouse to come to Root Town!"

Owen stumbled but managed to get a hold of his footing, " I smelled disinfectant on them! Just because their mice, doesn't make them evil like you said! Now take that back or your being a hypocritical specieist!"

Minas sighed as the two began to argue, looking over to Spat who went on to his duty. Minas waited for the time and opportunity to break up the bickering and to move onto work. However where the tiny hamster was, something much larger rolled over to him, he stopped hearing something mechanical. He turned around quickly, jumping to his side in case of an attack. What he saw before him however was something all to new. It looked like a car, only much smaller, like he could ride in it. The toy car sat there not moving an inch, the sun bounced off its top attachments. A closer look at the top, Spat noticed they were sirens, just like movies on TV when he was still at the store, red and blue. The rest of the toy car glistened in a nice coat of black and white. He scratched the side of his head before stepping a bit closer to the toy car, putting a paw on the hood. The toy car revved up, letting him fall into the dirt. Spat got up, coughing and dusting himself off from the dirt. Looking back up at the toy car, the sirens started to go off, making a high pitched sound, making him wince, grabbing his ears. As he was about to walk away from it, the horrible noise maker revved up more before going straight forward at him. Spat had nearly dodged it but was okay, aside from getting dirt over his fur.

The police car wailed on as it made a swift turn, and finally cashing him down the empty dirt road. It came to the point that Spat had to sprint on all four of his paws, " HELP! AHHHH! HE-HELP! SOMEONE! HELP ME!" He screamed out as dashed to where the group was seen last. And just as it were, they were still there thankfully. They all stopped, ears perking as they heard the distant shouting. The three got into formation, side to side before running to Spat, seeing the toy car driving after him. Minas took out a pencil that was worn down by humans who constantly sharpened it, standing still to balance himself before throwing it like a javelin spear to the car.

The pencil made it's point, lending into the ground behind Spat, having the tiny car roll over it, breaking the leaded tip and drifting into the bottom wiring. The car slowed down slightly but kept on marching after Spat. Owen rushed over, picking up the tiny hamster then jumping to the side, missing the car's hit. Right as the toy car was about to swerve again, Barnett had been waiting nearby Owen, holding his weapon out, spearing the tiny car. The hardy hamster stood his ground as the toy car scooted him a few inches as it slowed down and finally halted. Barnett swiftly put his paws under it and flipped it onto it's back with his might. Grabbing the weapon he soon stabbed the underside, making it stop it's sirens and slowing the tires to a permanent stop.

The team gathered to the car to study where it came from since there were no kids around. Barnett spat on the ground from his hardy work, " Damn that thing was noisy!"

Minas studied it as Spat took small gears and springs out of it, curious about how it moved, " Odd. Either this was controlled by a human or someone up very high. I'd blame those mice, but that fence isn't too tall. And judging how they climbed, there's no way they could have made it to a roof and carry the remote."

Spat examined the machinery, " The thing came out of nowhere l-like a ghost o-or something. Only when I saw it, did it start making that sound."

Minas thought, even more puzzled, " But if it could have been controlled without having the sirens on, it could have easily harmed you. Why attract attention with a loud siren...?"

Owen watched over the jumbled parts, looking up for a moment to think. His entire completely stiffened in fright as he whispered, " Nobody... Move." The other slowly looked to where Owen's eyes were, all of them clenching their muscles. Nearby them was a cat. This cat didn't look dainty as a pet, it had rugged fur, matted gooped up eyes, scratches all over, and sneezing a bit. This cat must have been from the pound, seeing as it was a stray, but also due to the fact of its sniffles. Colds were common in pounds due to how poorly they were maintained. " Everyone quietly pick up a gear, throw then split up. Depending on who it goes after, they run, manage to hide while the others turn to distract it..." Unfortunately this was the only plan of action as it was getting closer and wasn't to blind from the goop in its eyes.

All four did what Owen had said, throwing things at the cat, startling it before all ran in different directions confusing the cat who to go after. Of course it headed to Spat as he was slower than the other three. The other three looked over, immediately turning around, running to the feline. All of them grabbed a pebble or something throwable, aimed and fired, hitting the cat's rump as Spat ran to a corner of a house where boxes stacked up on the side of the wall and fence. The cat let out a loud meow, turning around and going after the hamster who was closest, that being Minas. Minas skidded before running to the fence as the cat followed after. The smart hamster of the group tucked himself, sliding under a crack in the fence. As the cat almost ran into the fence, it's ear spazzed out picking up noises from where Spat was. As it turned over, it's eyes locked onto the tiny hamster who was nibbling the cardboard so he could hide into it, unfortunately he wasn't that strong.

Barnett threw a large clump of dirt, hitting the cat's face, " OWEN! GO HELP THE KID!" As the cat snarled, turning its attention to the hulky hamster, Owen managed to run past it without it noticing. He ran to Spat and quickly started to dig into the box with his teeth. Barnett on the other hand didn't have any options considering Spat being too young to run more, Owen preoccupied on cutting the box, and not having much energy to run, also risking Owen and Spat if it turned around.

" BARNETT! OVER HERE! HURRY!" Minas shouted out, poking his head out from the small hole. Barnett shook his head, knowing he wouldn't fit under the hole.

With the cat drawing closer, he took out his weapon, " COME AT ME!" He shouted as he ran to the cat who surprisingly was startled at the hamster, now going after it.

Owen finally broke the box and shoved Spat into the new hole. He heard Barnett yelling and shouting angrily, it would take far too long to chew an even bigger hole into the box, even if Minas tried to distract the cat. Owen watched as the strongest hamster he knew managed to wound the cat's face. The orange tinted hamster began to make his way to help the fight but halted as he saw Barnett fly into the air, and being caught by the cat as it jumped. Only thing to do now was one thing, to turn to safety. Owen ran to the box and scooted into it, there was no way he could fight a cat alone.

After a few minutes there was silence from the leader to the young hamster, both keeping their breaths quiet. Waiting for the cat to be gone. Both were shaken up by a war like shriek from voices they didn't recognize. Owen looked out quickly, and there he saw nine of the mice from earlier surrounding the wounded cat with varies things as two lay on the dirt. It took a while but the cat collapsed onto its side, exhausted and... tired? Once the band moved Spat to a better area, one without blood, Owen sighed heavily, " Thank you."

The mouse they had met earlier nodded, " Least we could do. Thankfully I happen to know of a stash of catnip, knocked his ass out. Humans will be comin' soon, they'll find it, maybe it'll get betta'. Even if it took two of my mice, and one of yours. We moved the bodies so the humans won't freak out... Keep in touch alright? Name's, Milo. Just let us know, we'll be near that big ol' tree. Come along chaps, let's go... Mourn the losses." The mouse and his gang walked off as the hamster made their way to Root Town.

Spat looked up at the two silent hamster on the way back, " O-Owen? Minas...? Whe-where's Barnett? We-we shouldn't leave him out there..."

Owen sighed heavily, picking up Spat, carrying him, " He's not coming back kiddo."

" I-Is he sick?"

Owen bite his lip, Minas looked over and spoke up, " No, no. He's gone."

" G-Gone where?"

" Oh boy... You know how you said a monster took you mother and siblings? Well, it's like that. Only... There is no monster. He's in a better place now." The tiny hamster looked so confused, but soon unraveled into a balled up mess as they explained death and how he would never see his mother again. A week went by before he stopped his depression, if he were much younger, it would have sent him into a deeper depression that he may even stop eating. Young hamsters needed to be happy to grow, they were lucky he had stayed with them to grow more. Having nowhere to go or a main objective, he stayed where hamsters cared for him, like a real family.

He learned, some will sacrifice themselves for the protection of their loved ones.


	4. Talent of Joy

A week or so had gone by as Spat sat on the edge of the town with his mentor, viewing the peaceful city from their view. The small hamster sighed, grumbling about being bored, " Why are we all the way over here again?"

" Because, I'm meeting up with Milo here. I have to make sure that him and those mice are indeed truthful. I know they saved our hides back there, but they could have done it just to save themselves, so I need to see his full intentions." Owen told Spat who groaned. Spat didn't like sitting in one place for a long time, it irked him, he had to do something instead of just watching the townsfolk walk by across the bridge.

About another five minutes went by before the two noticed sounds of a cart being rolled over to them from behind. Both turned their shoulders, in plain sight Milo and his pack of nine made their way over with a large cart that had brown rag over it. Well a human sized rag, but a sheet to small mammals. Milo wore a vibrant red scarf that looked like it had gone through some rough times with its owner. The slightly taller mouse bowed to the hamsters, " 'Ello, 'ello. Nice to be meetin' up with ya uhh, Owen was it?" Owen nodded as Spat waddled to the cart, trying to peer in on his tiptoes. But when he moved some of the blanket up, something calmly popped out, booping him on the nose. The tiny hamster shrieked, falling onto his back, startled like a caught rabbit.

The blanket moved as something under rummaged around before some of it lifted, making a shape of someone small under it. With a tiny tug from Milo, the sheet moved off the figure, reviling a hamster who looked about the same age as Spat, possibly younger. The hamster had wonderful amber eyes and had a coat of fur that was pure white like snow. " Hello!" The slightly smaller hamster waved to the other two. Owen's jaw dropped, dumbfounded at the fact that these mice had a hamster with them, let alone a child at that!

Milo crossed his arms, smirking with a bit of pride, " This is why we came 'ere, other than findin' coin. We found the lil' tyke all alone, wanderin' in the woods, we did. I've been raisin' her fer about three weeks or so. She stayed in hidin' while the cat was attackin' our group. Real sweet lass, name's Harmony. Found her right outside, Fountain Falls, figured we bring her to Root Town. Well besides otha' things about our home town, ya know."

Owen listened, amazed that mice helped a young tiny female hamster. It normally wasn't in their nature, or so he was told. " Amazing. Uhm... Spat, how about you and Harmony go to the blacksmith. I uh, I need him to refurbish my sword."

Milo tossed Spat pouch of sunflower seeds, " Be a sport an' get me some bows n' arrows to will ya? Harmony keep an eye on 'em so he dun go spendin' it on somethin' else, okay hun?" The albino hamster nodded to the mouse before she was helped down by him. Spat and Harmony started to walk to the town's blacksmith, that way the adults could talk more freely.

On the way, Harmony was to the brim of happiness, and started up some small talk, " Hi. I'm Harmony. I wike your hair." She giggled, she seemed to have somewhat of a speech impediment. Which wasn't a problem considering Spat had a stutter.

The semi-older hamster rubbed his arm shyly, " O-Oh th-thanks. My name's Sp-Spat. It's nice to meet another kid around my age. The only other one I know personally is the ki-king's maid's friend who fostered her after her parents we-were gobbled up by-... I mean her parents were taken away to live with monsters as uhm uh..."

" Teehee, it's okay! I awready know that story is a wie. So what gobbled them up, if I can ask?"

" Erm... Snakes."

Harmony got a soft and concerned look on her face, " Aww, poor girl. So is Mister Owen your dad? You don't wook wike him."

Spat sighed lightly, " N-No. I was found all alone too. I don't have a dad, and my mom passed away from being sick. What about you?"

Harmony bounced around as she walked, eyes looking up, concentrating, " Mmm. I can't weally remember. All I remember is a fwash, and a big dark shadow. I think dad-I mean Mister Miwo said something about wats."

" Wats? And what do you mean Mister Milo is your dad?" He squinted, skeptical at the other hamster.

" Yeah, wats! And oh! Well... I wike to think of him as my dad since I don't remember mine that much. He's a weally funny and nice guy. He always brings me food, tells me stories, and plays with me when he's not busy. Kinda wike you and Mister Owen."

" Oh. Mister Owen's more of a mentor or a teacher than a dad. He only cares about results. His friend Minas and his girlfriend Sondra are the only ones to tell me stories. And Miss Isis, the maid makes me food, while her foster kid, Aisling is the only one who I can play with when were not working."

Harmony's face saddened again, " Aww, that's sounds rough. I'm sorry." Before she could be further upset, her ears perked up, tilting her head, " What's a girlfriend?"

" Uhm, they said it's like when a boy really likes a girl. And if a girl really likes a boy, their a boyfriend. I don't know, something about 'love'" He twitched his fingers putting emphasizes on the word of 'love' like it was magical thing or a state of being.

Harmony's eyes dazzled as she smiled widely, " OH! Teehee, Love is the best thing in the world~! At least that's what I've been told. I do remember that my parents use to say ' I love you' to me all the time! And Mister Miwo says, the power of love can withstand anything that's bad~! It's an amazing, wonderful, good feeling deep down inside your heart." Spat stared at the girl like she was insane, all he knew was the gross 'love' of Minas and Sondra, of how they would nuzzle their muzzles together and put their lips to each other, which was gross since they were sharing spit. Along with that, he knew the term 'tough-love' when training with Owen, getting knocked down as he failed to dodge and roll out of the way of being hit with a pole.

Thankfully they finally made it to the backside of the castle where the walls and hedges didn't cover. Behind the castle sat a blacksmith shop, the worker was good friends with the King, along with some others. The blacksmith had soot colored fur, with white splotches on his back, arms, ears, and around his eyes. To see better and in case something fell onto his him, he was suited with a hardhat mixed with a flashlight, a bit of miner's cap. Spat waved to the hardy worker who had no costumer that needed anything fixed, like a watch, a pipe, or anything else that needed to either be smelted, repaired, or built. " Hi Mister Oreo!"

Oreo's head looked up seeing the two young hamsters. He smiled boldly, eyeing the sword of Owen, " Hey there buddy! Need me to fix up that sword?" Spat nodded as he carefully handed it to Oreo who started to turn on a device that spun a stone wheel so he could sharpen the weapon. " Whose this here?"

" I am Harmony, it is a pleasure to meet you good sir!" Harmony curtsied, lifting up some of her fluffy snow white fur as if it were a dress.

" Wow, you're a very considerate young lady Miss Harmony-Ohh boy. Don't look now, here comes the town's traveling bard..." He said unenthusiastically, rolling his eyes as nearby of a nice sized park, came a hamster with a handed harp and lute on his back. The bard calmly walked to a small park tree next to the blacksmith's shop. He wore another blue musketeer like tapestry over his light orange yellow mixed fur, as the top of his head looked like he had stuck it in chocolate. But besides all that, the oddest thing had to be the silky smooth ambre colored hair that flipped to the front of his head. He whistled over to an unknown entity who was likely hiding behind something. A large calico mixed beast came out of hiding, wearing a saddle, with saddle bags, and a rein slunk over to the hamster. Spat and Harmony gasped, watching the creature move quickly and slithery like.

Of course being children the two ran over to bard, looking up to the beast, " hey there kids. Don't worry Barbra doesn't bite. She only eats insects and various other things. Been raising her since she was a little-big kit."

Barbra sniffed the two hamsters before laying down happily, squirming her stubby legs in joy. " What is she? And who are you Mister?" Spat managed to ask, still in awe.

" Name's Jubal. And Barbra here is called a ferret. She's related to weasels who often eat rodents like us, but ever since me and her were raised together, we became friends until our owner passed away. We were about to be split up, but we made it out okay. Me and her travel around, singing and delivering stuff from one town to the next. Or well at least we use to."

Harmony sat next to Jubal, " Oh my, what happen?"

Jubal fussed with his harp, " Folks around town have been locking down ever since Fountain Fall's King wound up dead in a river. Their new king just ain't the same. He's a bit more cruel, letting mice raid homes of humans and other towns like the Squirrel tribe over north, n' the lizard place down south. Surprised they haven't been here yet. So we just go around singing and playing music since everyone's so damn scared of any outsiders."

Harmony looked down to the soft grass under them, " Mister Miwo said he escaped Fountain Falls since everyone's been acting mean, and the place smells funny."

" Don't be down sunshine, come on, let's have a song!" The bard quickly swapped out to his lute and began to play, attracting other nearby hamsters to come around to sit and listen to the well being.

" Ranger Owen and Little Devin,  
Walkin' through the forest,  
Laughin' back and forth,  
At what the other'ne has to say.  
Reminiscin', This-'n'-thattin',  
Havin' such a good time,  
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally,  
Golly, what a day.  
Never ever thinkin' there was danger in the water,  
They were drinkin', they just guzzled it down.  
Never dreamin' that a schemin' rat and his posse,  
Was a-watchin' them an' gatherin' around.  
Ranger Owen and Little Devin,  
Runnin' through the forest,  
Jumpin' fences, dodgin' trees,  
An' tryin' to get away.  
Contemplatin' nothin',  
But escape an' fin'lly makin' it,  
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally,  
Golly, what a day.  
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally  
Golly, what a day"

Many hamsters started to cheer as some wanted an encore. Which of course Jubal happily obliged. Spat on the other hand had just remembered to pay Oreo for some bows and arrows, making the distracted crowd let him leave to the blacksmith who had been done. " Here Mister Oreo, Harmony's uh, caretaker wants some bows and arrows." Oreo nodded as he fumbled around a storage room, letting the small hamster follow into it, viewing at all the weaponry, " Wow, you made all these? Their amazing!"

" Yeah, and a lot more. But some folks around here get nervous with weapons, so I normally make them as a hobby and store them under a large hidden miss covered rock not far from the tree. Don't go telling anyone that I have them, 'specially the king. He wants peace, not violence. Only ones I've told are Owen, and Barnett, rest his soul. Since you seem to admire my work, why not tell you, never know when it could come in handy."

" Thank you Mister Oreo, I won't let anyone know, promise!. Oh b-by the way. Since you seem to know buildings and stuff, can you explain how there's water around the town?"

The blacksmith looked back over to the young hamster, " Ah, that's because we live near an aquifer. A place that stores water and well left over's from the main pipe that leads the water to the humans happens to go through some small pipes around under the tree. I helped build some of the pipeline so we could get more water, as well as setting up the wiring to flood the town incase snakes invaded in."

" Sounds dangerous. Wait you can do that? Ho-how in heck can you do that? Y-Your just one hamster!"

Oreo smirked to his own brilliance, " Me and Minas made a small ledge u the middle of the tree that can view over the dome. If you saw, that's where the mirrors are to shine light onto our town statue. But on that ledge is a secret department, which has a button inside that can do it. Only a few technicians, Minas, Owen, The King, know about it. But hey you should know too since your Owen's squire. And besides. It takes just one hamster to do something wonderful."

Spat was astonished of how Oreo was so rich filled with understanding machines. Well he would be admiring him longer, but a knock out the door was heard, soon followed by a 'Hello?' from Harmony. Spat promised the blacksmith not to tell anyone of the stash before him and Harmony met back up outside, getting a free ride on Barbra to Owen and Milo from Jubal.

Spat had learned that some just love to do their talent, and that some are joyful that they found love as friends, even if their very different.


	5. The Risking Rats

The next day, Owen had to work with the king on something for the wonderfully generous hamster folk of the town. So with that being said, the team members went off to do their own thing except for the two lovely ladies and Minas. The three went to take Spat out to explore another place they regularly patrolled, but to explore and have fun. The place they considered happen to be a high school nearby, though it was a long trip, they were able to make it there quickly with the help of some birds who weren't rodent eaters. Once at the gigantic building, the four snuck into an outside crack made by years of having to hold up the building. Thankfully it was the weekends, which meant only janitors would be there, and they normally listened to music, not paying much mind to anything else besides cleaning.

Once inside, they were already within one of the science rooms, an ideal place to watch videos, read books, examine things, and to keep in check of the plants the students and teacher had been growing. They all stood up high upon a cabinet, Spat speculated the wide room, full of long tables, chairs, and so many different appliances on the counter tables on the sides and back. It was much to take in since the only human building he had seen or been in was his previous caretaker's. Sondra folded her arms, smiling at the magnificent view ahead of them, " Sure is something, huh?" The smaller hamster just slowly nodded, still breath taken from the scenery.

" Yes, yes quite. Now honey, I'll be right back okay? I just need to look through some books, I love you~" Minas said joyfully to Sondra who embraced him in a warm hug, both nuzzling against each others fur before having a small kiss.

Sondra let go and waved to her boyfriend, " Hehehe, have fun you nerd, love you~!"

The tiny hamster watched them, tilting his head, again this odd concept called 'love' boggled his mind. His mother never said it to him that much, or enthusiastically. He had talked to the smart Minas about it, who simply put it as, ' she probably knew she was going to die, so she didn't get to heavily attached. That way, she could pass away without the thought of never seeing you again, which would be sad, and depress her. A nice peaceful death is better than a harsh saddened one with us hamsters.'

Sondra winked to the other two, " While he's busy with that, I'd like to tend to the flowers, maybe find a special one to give to him." She giggled lightly, her cheeks tinted with a blush of pinkish red. " You don't mind watching over the little guy for me Beryl?"

The light brown hamster nodded, " Not a problem at all hun. In fact, I'm meeting a friend around here whose setting up a picnic, I'd like them to meet, maybe you and Minas could join afterwards as well. You have fun now, don't get to cocky near the edge of that cabinet." She giggled, jokingly with the other girl before they split their ways apart.

Spat slowly kept up with Beryl as they climbed down boxes, papers, rulers, and such from the original cabinet. " He-Hey Miss Beryl?" Spat asked, of course calling her miss before her name to show deep respect and politeness as the king had taught him. " Why did they say, I love you instead of bye, or goodbye? And what's with the kissing?"

The girl giggled, it was so cute when a young child was so clueless about certain things, " Oh you confused goober. It's a good-bye but more of people who are in love, or a strong family goodbye term. And they kiss because that's what couples do when they like each other. For families, it's a kiss on the cheek or forehead. And if it's a polite greeting, sometimes a guy will kiss a girl's paw to show more respect." Spat thought to himself, maybe he'd try that next time with Harmony, considering she was a new friend and didn't get to talk much the day before.

When they go down onto a table, Spat ran to Beryl, hugging her side, " Thanks Miss Beryl f-for teaching me all this new s-stuff to be nice an-and polite." He waggled is stubby tail while the girl patted him on the head. Sure Spat hadn't met anyone who was a bully or a jerk, but he wanted to keep up with good habits to avoid things like that.

" No problem hun, now let's see where he is-AHA! Shhh." She put a finger to her mouth, shushing Spat who went into silent mode. Beryl jumped onto all fours, sneaking over to a mound of books seeing something just to the side behind them. Spat followed on his belly making sure to be quiet, watching the light brown hamster sneak over like a cat... which was a bit unnerving for the runt, but he managed to shrug it off. Beryl got closer and closer to whatever she caught with her eyes. She wriggled her back and rump a tiny bit before pouncing onto something. This hamster obviously watched a bit too many cats to get that movement down.

She grabbed hold of some long dark pink thing that twitched around as she held her grasp like it was a bronco. The large pink scaled thing looked like a worm almost but not as slimy or shiny. " Ahahaha! I got you!" Spat stood up, curious of the unknown creature his friend was on. Was it a worm, a salamander, maybe a nice snake? The runt waddled over to investigate who or what was behind the books. He gasped silently as his eyes moved across, viewing what looked like a mouse. The thing however was much larger than a mouse, hell it was bigger than poor Barnett. It's fur was a very dark grey, a bit like Milo's fur, which was now making him wonder why Milo had a different color of fur than the mice who stuck around with him.

The owner of the long pink tail turned his attention to Spat, letting the smaller rodent see more of the new guy. The large mouse like thing had twisted up whiskers, a notch on his left ear, what looked to be a bite taken out of his right ear, and yellow glinted eyes that looked down to Spat. The mouth of the mouse moved, under his chin was a small goatee, which the fur swayed as the jaws moved, " Oh why hello there." He greeted in a deep but kind-hearted voice. The tail lowered down so that Beryl could hop off.

Beryl walked to Spat, putting a paw on his tiny back, pushing him somewhat to the large rodent. Of course meeting something almost five times your size was very intimidating to the runt, so pushing him along proved to be difficult as his feet stuck to the ground like cement. " Spat, this is my boyfriend Rexford. Rex, this is Spat, the new kid to the team."

Spat snapped his head to the fellow hamster, " B-b-boyfriend? Y-y-your i-in love with a mouse?" He asked nervously.

The large mouse bellowed in laughter, " Ohoho, I like this kid. No, no, I'm a rat. It's kind of like a mouse but much bigger and different." Spat hadn't made the connection with what Harmony had said, due to her curse with saying W's in the place of L's and R's, didn't click with him. He could hardly understand her as enough as it was. The rat leaned over taking Spat by the hand, shaking his paw, " It's so nice to meet you kid. And yes, me and Beryl baby are girlfriend and boyfriend, we won't be getting a child with our species but that's okay as long as I meet my chosen one." He smiled to the hamster who blushed up, swaying her paw saying, 'oh you'. Spat was shocked as the rat's paws had large claws on them, however he had shaken Spat's significantly petite paw very gently, unlike the former hero, Barnett.

Beryl smiled as the two got to meet one another, Spat looked to her in confusion, " I-I thought you liked Owen?"

" Ohhh, I did. But he never took notice in me, so I met Rex here. But please don't tell Owen or anyone about him. They don't like rats, you know. Like how they don't like mice." This was true since Spat had asked about mice, it seemed they caused trouble, though that was conflicting seeing as how nice Milo and his group were. But on the other hand Owen was still watching them carefully.

" I-I won't I promise!" Spat saluted to the fellow hamster who knelt down to hug him.

" Thank you sweetie, now if you two don't mind me, I need to go ask Sondra something. I'll be right back." Beryl curtsied before making her way back up the mound of supplies to get to the cabinets. Spat looked over to Rexford who had gone to sit down on a tiny blanket, putting various foods out from a basket.

" Come on kid, you hafta' be hungry from all that climbing right?" The rat tilted his head, letting Spat make up his mind. Spat chose to do as he said, again showing respect, and besides he was a bit peckish. " So how'd you meet Beryl let alone Owen kiddo?"

Spat smiled brightly and told him, he loved hearing stories and defiantly telling them to those whom actually wanted to know. " And now I-I'm here. Ho-How did you two meet?"

Rexford handed some cheese to the runt, " Well, you see, I'm actually kind of a king, since my brother and his son went missing. I'm king of Fountain Falls, and well since things have been going badly, I went to go take a breath of fresh air outside the kingdom. I met Beryl while she was taking a breather as well, since she was lonely and Owen hadn't asked her out."

Spat's tiny ears perked up, " Fountain Falls? I-Is it true that the mice there have been going into human houses and stealing? An-And that the place smells funny?"

Rexford narrowed his eyes, in a surprised manner, " Yes actually. How do you know that?"

" Minas said a little bit. But so did my friend Harmony and her d-dad Milo. Oh! Mi-Mister Milo's a mouse, do you know him?"

The rat shrugged, " No idea. I have many mice in my kingdom, so I don't know everyone just yet. I just became king not t long ago."

Spat swallowed some of his food before continuing on, " Oh, that makes sense... Hey can't you stop th-the mice from stealing?"

Rexford sighed heavily, " I've tried, guess I'm not that great of a king considering I can't stop them. They just won't listen. They've acted like this ever since my brother who was the king died."

The small hamster looked down, " Awww... Th-that's sad. I-I'm sorry Mi-Mister Re-Re-Rexford."

The rat gave the young hamster a gentle considerate smile, " It's okay, thank you for the thought. Also, hehe, you have a tiny stutter. How'd you get that? Sometimes if something stresses you out as a baby, it can lead to you doing that."

Spat shrugged his tiny shoulders, " I don't know. I-It's been like this for a l-long time. I wish it would st-stop. It's an annoying habit." Rexford patted the young hamster as Beryl had done earlier, letting Spat know it was okay. Unfortunately after a while of nibbling on food, Spat seemed to get worried, Beryl wasn't back yet. Alarms rang off into his head. Quickly getting up he ran to the front of the books, scouring the area for her sight. Rexford soon got up to investigate, as well as making sure Spat wouldn't be panicking considering when someone he knows is not back, would make him worried.

A high pitched shriek came across the room, both stared as they saw Sondra's figure fall from the cabinet she had been on, tending to the plants. She fell behind a table, blocking their view of the soon to be silence. Beryl was heard, both looked up to see the other hamster leaning over the side of the cabinet, extending her arm, " SOOOONDRAAAA!" she shouted out before her face made a grim mark, putting her paws to her eyes as she cried.

Spat and Beryl both waited for Minas to return, while Rexford had to call out some of his mice to clean the body on the cold tiled floor. Both had been crying for what seemed liked hours. Just then the two heard a voice behind them, " Why are you two crying?" They turned to see Minas standing behind them holding a small box that was white and fuzzy looking.

Beryl got up and ran to him, pushing him down, " WHERE WE'RE YOU! YOU SAID YOU WERE READING! HOW DID YOU NOT HEAR HER?!" Tears ran down her cheeks.

Minas fell onto his back, clutching the box, he looked to her in pain and confusion, " i-I went to get something! I said that so I could get her this!" He defensively opened the box, inside sat a ring with a beautiful dazzling gem on it.

Beryl sniffled, whipping her tears off with her arm, " She-she's dead."

It took a while for Minas to grasp the information, " ...Wh-what...?" N-No... NO! NONONO!" He dropped the box to his side, running to her, " HOW?! WHAT?! NO!"

Beryl looked to him with sorrow, " She was tending the plants. I saw someone with long haired fur shove her off the cabinets edge. I-I was too late!" Minas became mortified, his face slowly swelling up into fear and gloom.

Once explaining that some mice had cleaned the tile, he was able to see her remains in a box the mice had put her in. Even the mice were deeply saddened by this...

Back at town, the news was told, everyone was upset. Minas stopped talking, reading, even eating. His depression kicked in making him stare at the wedding ring he had just gotten. While Steen, Sondra's twin went into a downward spiral, making him spend all his time at the town's bar. When the bar closed, he would lay outside of it waiting for it to open so he could return in to drown out his memories of his risky and lovable twin.

Spat had learned that some take risk for their love.


	6. Drowning Sorrow Into Jealousy

A week had gone by since the untimely death of Sondra, the band's great medical care taker. Minas spent most of his time locked inside his room, barely eating, constantly blaming himself for the events that happened. Seeing him in this state scared Spat out of his mind, if love can break you like this and make you silent and distant, it defiantly wasn't worth the risk in having any. Not only did it effect Minas' perspective, but Steen as well. Though Steen was very different, he instead hadn't come back to the castle for the past week, instead he spent all his time at the town's bar, sitting by himself downing pint after pint of pineapple cider, the town's homely brew. As for everyone else, even the royal maid was to shocked to go into Sondra's room, as well as Barnett's.

Spat let out a groan as he broadly sat at the castle's stairs, the depression of his friends was seeping into his own body, making him down and useless. He had spent the last week tinkering in his room with certain tools he acquired from Oreo. The king blacksmith saw how he like to toy around with different things, building tiny contraptions. He would have loved to show Minas but, the older hamster wouldn't respond. The urge of tinkering was his way to let off some steam in the back of his mind where his thoughts of darkness roamed. He didn't want to tell anyone, but ever since the cat incident and now some loose long haired hamster was running about, made him feel like doing horrible things, like what he had read in Minas' books and historical documents to learn about the town. Some of his tinkered machines were hidden under his bed or way in the back of his closet, laying behind sheets. Others would consider them deadly, something a young hamster shouldn't have. But the dark thoughts of justifying the wronged by killing and taking revenge hovered around him.

Iris walked over to him, passing by down the stairs, holding a feather duster, " Spat sweetie, maybe you should go on out, play outside for a bit?"

" No one wants to play. Everyone's busy, and the other hamster kids say I can't play because I work for the king, which is all work and no pl-play."

" Ohhh, that's not true! Aisling works here as my assailant ever since I adopted her. I'm sure she'd love to play with you. You know she's kinda sad as well. Maybe you two can actually play this time since everyone IS so busy." Spat's ears perked up, it was true he didn't get to play with the brown and grey patterned hamster much since he had to either work, train, or study.

" Y-You know what, that's a great idea! Th-thank you miss Iris!" He hopped up, hugging her torso while the maid ruffled his tiny mohwak happily. After letting the younger hamster know where her adoptive sister was, he ran straight outside to go play with her, excited to play with someone again considering Harmony had to leave that one time.

Unknown to Spat, Harmony was actually right there in the garden, playing ball with the smaller grey and brown colored hamster. Both girls tossed a small ball to one another before noticing rapid footsteps heading to them. Aisling stuffed the ball into her oversized satchel and looked over, waving to the other young hamster, " Hey Spatty, kwee~!" She hollered out. Aisling always seemed to have a speech impediment as well, though it wasn't as bad. She would say kwee after some of her sentences was all. Basically it was a lingering thing from when she was a baby, Iris explained that it had been the only word the younger girl had said. Eventually she grew out of it, saying real words, but it still hung around time to time.

" Hey girls! Oh, he-hey Harmony, what are you doing back s-so soon?"

" Well, Mister Miwo is talking to Mister Owen again. They wanted to do some adult talking, so Mister Owen asked Miss Iwis who asked Aisling to pway with me. We've just been throwing her ball and talking about cute stuff, wike dolls, wadybugs, weddings, and love~ Teehee."

Spat's smile went to a small frown of disgust, again with this love nonsense. Then again Harmony wouldn't have been as heavily effected since she hadn't known Sondra as well as the other two did. " Wait. What's a wed-wedding?"

The two girl looked to one another before giggling, " A wedding is where two hamsters fall in love and wive with each other silly. Mister Miwo told me that. He still hasn't found anyone he wikes though. The hamster usually gives the other one a ring... Kind of wike how uhm..." She slowed down, having remembered the horrible events that had happened recently. " Well, you know. Uhm... Let's talk about something else~!"

The three of them sat down discussing certain things here and there to let the girls take a breather from tossing the ball around. As long as they would play afterwards, Spat was happy to chat with the two. " So whose this Mister Milo guy?" Aisling asked, " How does Mister Owen know him?"

" Here, I got this Ha-Harmony. We met Milo a while back, he helped us with... a cat. Apparently he fo-found Harmony and took care of her for a few weeks."

Harmony sighed lightly, " Oh dad... He wied about that. He says if he told how long he really took care of me, the older hamsters wouldn't trust him for some reason. But he didn't say anything about me telling anyone who wasn't an adult teehee~!" She giggled sneakily.

Spat and Aisling stared at her, it seemed a bit more was behind that cute innocent face. Spat smirked, " Clever girl." While the other girl laughed, pushing Harmony playfully, letting out a comment of, ' oh you're so bad', jokingly. " But if he didn't, when did he find you?"

" About mmmm-" She put a finger to her tiny chin, looking up to the tree's underside above them, " I want to say about 5 months ago or so. I don't remember much. All I remember was my parents just a tiny bit, then wakeing up in a big room of mice and two wats yelling at my da-I mean Mister Miwo. A month ago some mice rushed me out of the town and we met up with Mister Miwo who was hurt. I didn't know what happen. And since then, we've been wiving outside." The other two children though to themselves, Spat tried making connections but some things just didn't add up. He ignored that for now however.

After a bit more chatter they ran off to go around and play. Before to long as they ran around, the three eventually grew tired. They all sat just outside the castle's walls peacefully, pointing and saying what mark under the tree above them looked like as if they were clouds. This was until the kids heard shouting heading their way from inside. The doors flung open as someone kicked them open. Behind the door two older hamsters walked out onto the porch, one light brown and grey hamster with squinty eyes, much like the king's huffed. He wore a red sweatband around his fuzzy head, while he had on a leather coat, much like Owen's. At his side was another hamster, roughly the same size, more gray and slightly blue from the different colors of grey on him. His eye hidden behind blue goggles while he wore a green bandanna around his neck. These two were the king's royal guards. They were committed to their job, known to be strong and vicious. However they both had a crush on the royal maid, which made the two constantly in a quarrel.

Iris rushed outside just as the two pulled out their weapons, the squinty eyed hamster's choice being a rather large axe, as for the goggled wearer held out a crossbow. Both snarling at each other. Iris ran to one then the other, slapping both upside the head, " ARCHER! GRAEME! THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE! AND BESIDES THAT, WHAT IF YOU BOTH GOT INJURED?! WHO WOULD GUARD THE KING THEN?!" Both tried to speak up, but were silenced as Iris grabbed the two by their ears and pulled them to the castle, practically dragging them. Both made pained sounds as they flailed about before being personally escorted back inside.

Aisling sighed, her happy go-lucky mood had been ruined as she saw the two fight over who she felt was her sister. " Urgh, men kwee..."

" What's with those two?" Harmony tilted her head to the other two.

Spat ran his paw over his mohawk, " Well... Mister Graeme and Archer both like her alot-" He was cut off by an irritated Aisling.

" Because of them, they constantly fight over her, making her have to deal with them both being stupid. To the point of me not being around her that much, or me having to end up being babysat by the two of them. They never focus on me either, I could run off and they wouldn't care, kwee..." Harmony pat her new friend's back. Spat on the other hand knew there could be one way to calm their friend down.

" You know what, we should get some snacks at Mister Tyler's Tavern! He always gives out snacks and safe drinks to kids who visit during the day! And you-you know, we've been playing for qu-quite awhile. I don't kn-know about you guys but I could go for some food and drinks!" The two girls perked up to the idea of Spat, happily obliged as they got up to go to the tavern.

The tavern was fairly big, considering it was the only one in town. So sometimes the bar would be full, and other times it wouldn't. A semi-elderly hamster worked there, he enjoyed traveler stories, gossips, and would even go out and participate in any sunflower roasts or festivals. It was true that he gave out snacks and safe drinks to the kids around town, especially since he watched his granddaughter when his own son was busy maintaining the pipe lining and currents for being the only hamster to know how to swim. As the children came in, they noticed it was a rather slow day as there weren't any costumers but one, who they avoided not wanting Steen to start crying into his mug.

Tyler chuckled as his granddaughter combed his scruffy beard of fur, before putting them into bows and such. She stopped, looking over her shoulder to see the older kids. She waved to them, " Hi~!"

Tyler smiled to the three who climbed up onto the stools, though each had a hard time with this task, but eventually got up there. " Ohoho, why hello there kiddies. You all look like you've been playing hard, may I get you some snacks and water?" He welcomed them kindly, as the three nodded joyfully. " Okay, Barrette, please stay here okay? I'll be right back." He walked off to fetch the refreshments.

Barrette nodded to her grandfather before kicking her stubby legs off the bar counter's side, " Hiya Aisling! Hiya Spat! Hiya uhm." The brown and white child tilted her head, putting her thumb in her mouth.

" This i-is Harmony." Spat introduced the two girls who soon were more than welcomed to meet each other. Though Barrette was much younger, she was the only one out of all of them that didn't seem to have a speech problem from what Spat could see. The only habit was trying to knit and constantly put her thumb in her mouth time from time. Sure the two didn't see each other much, but there were still happy when one visited. She was far to young to go out and play with the older hamsters near Spat's age, so she would stay inside most of the time, which was fine by her.

As the much older hamster brought over some water and walnuts the humble door swayed open, making the bell above chime. Walking in was Owen, Milo, and somehow Minas. The children peered over to the side, seeing as Iris wasn't there meant the kids didn't have to up and leave. Milo sat over to Harmony who was happy to see him. As the two other girls questioned Milo, Harmony told them whom he was while the mouse and elder talked. Spat didn't pay any mind to any of them, but focused more on Owen and Minas. He hopped down while his friends were distracted and carefully snuck around under a table where Owen and Minas sat at. He watched as Owen viewed Steen nearby.

Owen sighed, putting his paws down onto the table, getting up and walking to his fellow band member. Spat's ears picked up on the two, " Steen, it's time for you to come back home to the castle. This isn't healthy for you, come on buddy, let's get you back."

Steen looked up from his head being planted into his arms, a paw held onto a half empty bottle, " Wha... N-No, no man. This isth were I live now, so shove off du-dude." He slurred his words around to the other.

" Tyler, Sean, and Barrette aren't your family. Come back home and leave these poor hamster alone, okay?"

" Why should I go back t-to a place where I have no damn family, huh?!" He suddenly raised his voice in his drunken stooper. " And why is he even here?! It's his fault she's gone! Stupid nerdy basthterd!" He glared to Minas who quietly sat at the other table.

" because he had to get out of his room. That and you two should talk and move on. You both lost her so your deeply affected. Now please-"

" NO!" Steen got up, throwing back his chair, making the others startled. " I'm not going back Owen! You're not my fucking leader anymore! Wanna kn-know why mister alpha male?! I QUIT! This team died when Thondra died you prick! And like hell he knows what I'm going through! Or a-any of you! I grew up with her right from birth! We always had a thaying, from the womb to the tomb! I'm not strong enough to join her!" Steen bitterly spat out in a harsh tone to Owen who stood his ground.

" That's not strength, that's foolishness-" Owen tried to intercept the rage induced hamster's word but was cut off by him who yelled even louder. At this time, Milo grabbed Harmony and Aisling as Tyler picked up his upset granddaughter. The two rushed out of the bar, forgetting about Spat who clung to one of the few actual table's pillar.

" SHUT IT! Because of this, I have nothing to live for! I'm trying my best to join her, but-but-but this alcohol... It's so fucking cheap!" He swung the empty bottles onto the floor, glass shattering, one even almost hitting the scared child.

Minas got up to walk to the two, taking off his glasses and setting them down. Behind them lay two tired and puffy red eyes from sleepless nights and constant tears. He spoke up, for once in the past week, " Steen... She wouldn't want this. Please, we're trying to help. This isn't healthy for a hams-" The intelligent words were sliced by in half by the drunken hamster who swung the bottle he held onto the table, making the end a sharp weapon.

" SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU DAMN NERD! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT SHE'S GONE! IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU SHE'D BE HERE WITH US! I WOULDN'T BE IN THE SHITTER A-AND YOU WOULDN'T BE A DISTANT LITTLE BITCH! GO ON! DO IT! SAY PLEASE ONE MORE TIME YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Steen shouted in their faces. Minas' eyes glanced to the side feeling guilt but stopped once his sights spotted Spat hiding and quivering. Just as Owen was about to calmly talk back, Minas clutched his paw into a fist, swinging to Steen, punching him in the cheek with enough force to knock his ass down and make him pass out.

Owen sighed as he picked up the passed out hamster while Minas' went to the table, kneeling down, pulling Spat out from under it. Owen gasped, " Spat! I'm so sorry, I didn't see you-"

Minas put out a finger as he held Spat up, " It's alright Owen. We need to care for him more than Steen at the moment..." He said calmly, following Owen out to carry Steen to the hospital.

" What about you?" Owen asked.

" Don't worry about me..." He quietly mumbled under his breath thinking Spat was to much in shock to hear his words, " No one will..."

That day, Spat understood that some can be jealous over their loved one and want their attention, while others only want to forget their loved ones.


	7. Joining Wisdom

With Owen discussing things with Milo, still trying to see if the mouse was up to something or not, Devin took Spat out from the castle. Spat needed to get out more often and not where another band member was since Minas and Steen had made him very nervous. They arrived at a large building that looked to be heavily decorated. Devin gave the young hamster a box full of caramel covered sunflower seeds, his own special recipe. They were so enjoyed that the recipe was given to Iris who looked forward to when Devin retired so that the two friends could make and give them out around the village. The chubby hamster knocked on the door, soon getting answered by a mellowed colored hamster wearing the same blue tapestry, with a knight's helmet on his head.

Devine smiled to the fellow musketeer wearer, " Hey Coppola! This is the little fella' Owen told you about. King Yenene suggested he went out of the castle and away from the band for just a bit to relax. I couldn't really think of anywhere else, so I brought him over to see you. He likes different things and the museum is so full of shiny stuff that I don't understand. But I'm sure Sat here would like to see it!" Spat looked up to the older hamster, nodding quietly, still slightly shooken up from Steen's drunken rage the day before.

The helmet capped hamster nodded, understanding the situation he had heard from the blacksmith, " Yeah, sure, it's no problem haha. I don't get as many visitors, so I'm more than happy to help you guys out. Have a good day out there buddy." The two waved their goodbyes before the runt was let inside. Inside the museum were many shelves with glass covering them, inside splayed out were different and unique things that varied in shapes and sizes. While some exhibits stood out on pedestals, having a nice bright red rope strung around them. Sure everything was fascinating to Spat, but nothing seemed to stick out.

" So M-M-Mister Coppola. A-Are there any exhibits tha-that have some history behind them?" He asked, curious if the town had some type of relic when it was made.

" Why yes, all of these of course~!"

" N-No, I mean, like... Anything that I can kn-know about this town? All I know is that it's un-under a tree and there's a ki-king. Did the king founded this place?"

" Ahhhh." Now that the other hamster fully understood he lead Spat into a room full of shelves all around the room, but at the middle sat three small pillars, each surrounded with a glass box. One of them held an old rusted crown, another was just a fancy pillow, while the last was a cap of dark purple with two antennas that had arrow pointed tips of the edge. The two walked over to the three pillars, " Alright, so you want some town history? I like that, not many kids your age like those types of things. But this town is chalk full of it, and it all began with these thr-er, two hats."

Spat's eyes widened with astonishment, how could an entire town begin with a simple hat?, Coppola sat down on a soft cushioned red velveted bench, patting the side to tell Spat to sit down. If the two were going to sit, this was going to be quite the story.

With that being implied, the story started, " You see. A long, long, long time ago, before any of our town hams were born was a large kingdom that was made inside a gigantically monstrous sized tree. The tree gave way after awhile and snapped, falling half way while the other half was stuck in the ground. With that tree being snapped, many predators could view the town inside, so they had to move. So the hamsters moved to another big tree and found that it was hollow right under it while the roots spread to the sides of the tree. The place was often used by mice to escaped any predator. So the town's leader who lead them to this area greeted some of the mice, spoke of a peace treaty, that they had nowhere to go and would like to live there. The hamster leader was called Douse, as he was able to put out fires in the old tree. With a town being there, it could be a shelter for travelers, serving them food, water, and trading with them. The mice accepted the new found alliance..."

" However, some shady mice took note in that the peaceful leader wore a crown that was skillfully crated, and shined brightly in the sun. Of course with their eyes being focused on such a shiny thing, they went to tell their own leader who was a bite more than greedy, his name was Sear. The peaceful mice kept the place in secret from their leader, considering if they told him, he would claim the safe haven and just rule over it as well. Sure it would still be safe, but they really wanted to get away from their own town, thus why they traveled around so much. The shady bunch told their leader who almost wanted the land at first, but when he heard of the magnificent crown, he wanted that instead. Wearing such a piece would prove his royalty... Well, that's what he thought of it anyways."

" Leader Sear visited the town that was being built, demanding for Douse to give up his crown for the land. He was just about to until the mouse leader saw some of his folk from his kingdom were helping out and starting to live with the new town. It angered him to see his folk leave, so... He ordered his guards to take them out for betraying their home. Once this happened Douse declined to the trade as this was wrong and stood up for the left over mice, letting the others know that this land is the peaceful mice and the hamsters land. They found it, so why should they give in to the tyrant's actions just for a stupid crown. If Douse gave him the crown, it would just further on Sear's pride. That day, both leaders became bitter enemies. Of course the hamsters and nice mice worked together, helping one another, but would ultimately get sabotaged by Sear's mice. While Sear was plotting, the hamsters and mice would tend to travelers or wounded rodents such as rabbits, moles, and sometimes even animals like sparrows and lizards. Those travelers or wounded animals saw that Sear's mice kept trying to ruin the village to make a point."

" Those travelers band together with the peaceful village until one day, a snake was let loose in the town from Sear and his mice. This crossed Douse's line. If he wanted to stop this, he would have to use force instead of coexisting with Sear and his mice. The town and travelers formed a pact to protect themselves, defending off Sear's mice with force. So Sear didn't like how his troops were getting beat up all the sudden, a war was rising. The two leaders brought out their hats that were going to be their battle caps. Douse was given a star branded halo from his grandfather who founded the old tree town, a gift from helping someone dubbed, Fairy-Ham. While Sear had found a purple cap with devil horns on the tips, said to hold pure hatred as it was made by an ancient evil cat named, Sabakunya. The two sides fought and Douse was victorious. The nice mice thanked the hamster but decided they would seek out another place and cultivate it, seeing as other mice who saw them would start fights."

Spat blinked, looking back to the glassed boxes, back to Coppola again, " So, Douse's crown is in there, and Douse took the bad hat?" The older hamster nodded to the question. " Then... Wh-why is th-that one missing?"

Coppola's expression changed into a hurt look, " Ah, right... You see a few months ago or so, Owen's team received an anonymous tip that there were snakes nearby outside the tree trying to get in. Beryl informed them on the tip, and so they went out to investigate. However that was a ruse in order for some mice from Fountain Falls to sneak in and rob the museum. The previous owners were a couple with their new baby. The couple hid their baby and the hat so that it couldn't return into the paws of evil. They killed the couple, and the baby wasn't found. After some cleaning up, we found the hat but the halo was gone. They stole a hat that is said to be made for the pure of heart, and would grant an innocent hamster with magical powers of love."

Spat rolled his eyes, again with the love shit, " So wait. If that has powers, does that evil hat have powers too?"

" Yes. If put on the one who has pure hate in their heart, they can become very magical and dangerous. Thus the reason why I'm here. I guard them since I use to guard the King."

Spat watched the dark velveted purple hat with suspicion, but with also a hint of concern. This was short lived as the museum's doors swung open, Owen rushed in along with Beryl, both panting heavily. " COPPOLA! HA-HAVE YOU SEEN MINAS ANYWHERE?!"

The white furred hamster took off his helmet to hear better, reveling deep brown fur on his head, " Wha-what? No, why might I ask?"

" SHIT! We can't find him anywhere! All we found in his room was a note, saying 'Don't Worry!" Owen yelled out, making the other hamster leap off of the bench.

The small group asked around the town before a hamster ran to them, panting from the long exhausted run. They said something about outside and the tree before falling to the ground. Folk ran to help them while the tiny group dashed outside, all looked around, upon seeing a group of hamsters and various animals looking up. Owen looked up above him to see Minas standing out on a branch far above, " MINAS! DON'T MOVE! WE'RE ON THE WAY!" Coppola rushed to a fellow hamster in the small crowd insisting them to call out a friendly bird with the town's whistle. They informed him that some hamsters were busy trying to get a half torn book out of the whistle to contact the birds or flying squirrels. It seemed Minas had put it there so that nothing could save him.

The crowd gasped out as they watched Minas step further and further out to the tip of the branch. A gaggle of squirrels ran up the tree to inform the birds, while various passer byers, hamsters and travelers ran to where the branch spread out. But as soon as Mina's saw the two groups move hastily, he spread out his arms, removed his glasses, placing them down on the tree's branch and stepping off...

Love wasn't always a romantic thing, as some love to give out wisdom. But when it came to another living thing... It was more deadly.

Though intelligent as Spat recognized him, Minas was sickened with love stricken guilt... Some want to join their loved ones.


	8. Love of the Wrong

Yet another week had gone by, thankfully the small hamster was starting to feel better knowing that Minas and Sondra were now together at last, meanwhile Steen stayed at the town's clinic from over-drinking himself. He was starting to do a bit better with the help of a nurse there, so Owens' band kept the whole Mina's committing suicide away from him, to keep him from breaking down again in a fit of guilt. It seemed like things calmed down quite a bit after Minas was gone, it was a shame, Spat respected him as an intelligent individual that could solve certain things. And yet... this 'love' bullshit made him want to take his life away.

At least the runt had his two friends over while the king and Owen chatted with Milo. He often wondered what they talked about, Owen probably still being suspicious about him or something. The two girls looked around Spat's room, examining knick-knacks on his table, blueprints, and small inventions he had tinkered with, while he laid on his bed thinking. Aisling waddled her way to his crafting table Oreo had given him, " Wow, you and Mister Oreo like to make stuff kwee." She carefully picked up something that seemed to be a hollow wooden block, with pencils stuffed inside of it. The eraser tips hung out from the device as her paws held the handle of it from beneath. She pointed it around before facing the only boy in the room who went on to talking about the blacksmith.

" Yeah, he saw that I liked to build, said something about me being re-really smart o-or something like being a mechanical genius." He peeked over to the grey and brown mixed hamster who was examining the device in her tiny paws.

" Though, I've never seen anything like this. What is i-" She was rudely interrupted as a finger slipped down, pushing the trigger, letting the pencils fly out, hitting Spat. Spat scrunched his face up as the unsharpened pencil's erasers struck him, thankfully they weren't too hard. " OH MY GOSH! I'M SO SORRY! ARE YOU?!" Harmony spun around to see Spat shake his head from being brigaded by pencils.

The runt giggled, " Oh good, it does work. I'm fine, their just erasers." He sat up on his bed smiling, " I call it 'The Hamvilin Gun~! It shoots out a bunch of stuff, kinda like arrows, but with more than one stick at a time." He proudly crossed his arms as the two girls marveled over the contraption.

Harmony giggled, " Wow! That's really clever Spats! I'm sure Oreo would wike to see it in action!"

Spat's ears perked as he heard the idea, " Hey yeah, I should go show him, huh?" The two girls cheered him on to do so, thinking it'd be wonderful if the two exchanged building ideas and tips.

" Well that might have to wait~" A voice came in from the doorway, Beryl stood by it, peeking into the room. " Aisling, Iris needs your help cleaning the floors, and uhm Harmony, was it? That cute rat you call 'dad' wants to show you something."

Harmony's cheeks puffed up as she had an irritated look on her face, which had never been seen by Spat before. She was always so happy, he never saw her be agitated or angry before, it was surreal, " He's not a wat! He's a nice mouse!" Small tears stuck out of the edges of her eyes.

Beryl apologized quickly, " Oh sorry hun! Just, the color, and the tail-I-It's okay hun, I'm sorry! Aisling, Iris needs you to help with the floor scrubbing."

Aisling's eyes widened in excitement, this meant she was able to do her favorite thing, which was wiping the hallway's floors that had just been mopped up. She loved grabbing a big warm towel, setting it down and dashing off with the towel on the floor as she held it down. She always pretended to be that lovely ferret Jubal was with, running around, " You got it kwee~! I'll meet you guys at lunch!"

The two waved to her as Harmony went off to go see her foster dad, mumbling. Spat looked to the light brown furred hamster, " Does-Does that mean, I can hang out with Owen o-or Oreo?" It just clicked of how funny the thought was that the two hamsters he'd like to be around both started with O's.

Beryl shook her head, her hair dangling from her bows swayed, " Sorry hun, Them, Devin, the guards, and the king are off to fix a bridge. Somehow one of the bridged on the west side broke down." Before receiving a gasp from the younger hamster, Beryl smiled, " Don't worry nobody got hurt, and nobody fell into the water. And besides if anyone did, Barrette's father Sean would save them." The runt sighed in great relief before laying back down on his bed with an upset look masking his face. " What's wrong?"

" Well everyone's so busy... C-Can me and-and you hang out?" He tilted his head, ears happily perking up as he watched her with big puppy dog eyes.

" No, sorry hun. I have to go meet up with some old friends... But~... You can go see Mister Rexford. He's wonderful at babysitting."

Spat huffed, slightly pouting, " I'm not a baby..." He mumbled lightly to himself before getting off his bed and following her. He didn't like to be alone, when he was alone thoughts would constantly flood into his mind. Sure they helped him with devices he would make, but eventually the thoughts would gradually sink turning into devices that could harm things like cats, and mixed emotions would stir up making him feel down. So the thought of being around someone else, cheered him up. He just didn't like being alone, it reminded him how all his friends were picked out, leaving him alone in that big cage...

The two went to the edge of town, a house stayed by itself right next to the small cliff that had water flowing around it. Beryl put a finger to her lips, " Now this is a secret place that hamsters think is haunted by ghosts. But it's actually me and Rexford's hiding place to see each other whenever he comes over. So please, be hush-hush about this place." Spat nodded, again understanding that hamsters and rats didn't mix, and the least he wanted to do was make Beryl panic if others knew about her boyfriend. Though that word, hush-hush... It was so bizarre to Spat. She said it was from an old hamster dictionary that had been missing ever since the museum's break in. It was just a book with weird code names for certain phrases. It kinda annoyed him, but Beryl seemed to had really enjoyed that book that anyone could read at the museum.

Once inside, Spat noticed how well kept it looked, unlike the outside which seemed to make it appear abandoned. It was quite nice, with the smell of fresh cleaning, even if there wasn't much furniture around. Rexford walked out from what Spat could tell, was the kitchen. The large rat had some tasty seeds of different varieties on a tray, he happily bowed his head to Spat as a formal greeting, " Why hello there kiddo. Here have a snack." With a warm smile splayed out, Spat couldn't help but for his lips to form a smile as well. Him and Beryl picked a seed to nibble on as Rexford placed the tray on a small dining room table, " So how long do I watch the little tyke for?"

" Just a couple of hours considering someone broke a bridge, and some other others are cleaning."

" And that Mi-Mister Milo is showing Harmony something." Spat piped in.

Beryl nodded, " Ah, yes that too."

Rexford tilted his head, " Who?"

" Just a mouse, don't worry about it Rex~" With a joyful smile, Beryl wished the two to have fun before going out to meet her friends. Both rodents sat at the table. Unsure of what to talk about Rexford asked if the young hamster would like to know anything. Of course he had some questions which were soon answered. From what Spat could gather, Rexford was the king of Fountain Falls. The mice there didn't listen to him ever since his brother who was king died of an illness. While the king's son went missing, presumably running away from the kingdom, not knowing how to fully grasp the concept of leading the town. So Rexford became king and met Beryl, them falling in love. Rexford seemed to be looking for another place to colonize as the air in Fountain Falls started to smell weird, some mice getting terribly sick, while others went into human homes and ransacked the place. He felt sorry for the older rodent, and showed a great deal of sympathy and pity.

Once it was his turn, Spat told him about his own troubles, mostly about the band members dyeing before he moved onto talking about inventions that he would craft when others were far too busy with other matters. After a while Rexford seemed to get weary of the invention talk, making Spat quiet down, " So uhm... Do you wanna p-p-play a game or something? Maybe toss a ball? Board games? H-Hide and seek?" Spat asked, he heard of how Harmony played with Milo, and seeing as Owen was normally busy, this might be the one time to figure it out. Rexford had been looking bored for a while now with an elbow on the table, and his paw holding up his head from his cheek. However his eyes lit up as Spat suggested playing. What would normally be a smile, turned into a sinister smirk. Spat never saw this smile before, and coming from something four times bigger than him was pretty scary.

The rat sat up straight, putting his claws together, " You know what...? That sounds like a fun idea, it'll make the hours go by much faster." The innocent hamster smiled brightly, proud that he actually got the older rodent to agree. The rat got out from his chair, walking to Spat who got out of his, anticipating in playing a game. The only thing was that Rexford picked up the tiny hamster, carrying him off.

" Oh are-are we going to play outside?!" He tilted his head as he sat in the rat's arms. The older rodent shook his head as he made his way into another room with a large bed. The long scaly tail closed the door behind its owner. Spat got the sense of confusion and what seemed to be regret, but he felt safe none the less. Rexford carefully placed Spat onto the bed, before getting on it himself. " We playing pillow fights? Green light, red light? Pillow monster?"

" No, no, and no. It's called, relationships."

" Oooh, I've never heard of that game! How do you play?!" The excited runt questioned before the rat's paw wrapped around his side, holding him in place while his head lowered and licked Spat's ear and mohawk. Spat giggled a little, the rat's tongue tickled him and he was suddenly reminded of his mom grooming him.

" Ehehe, stop, that tickles! Besides, I bathed yesterda-" He completely stopped as the rat's other paw stroked against his chest fur. " U-Uhm..." Spat stiffened up as the paw ran down to his leg. At this point the young hamster's sense of impending badness was seeping in, " I-Is this... Is this pa-part of th-the g-g-game?" He asked quietly.

" Ohhhh, yes it is~... Now just... Re...LAX!" Spat was soon shoved down into the bed... Spat woke up outside of the castle, thoughts converting into nothing. He kept trying to remember what happen, but when he did, his head throbbed harshly. He shakily got up, making his way to the castle's door which had been opened for cleaning. Spat seemed delirious, and smelled like he just had a nice bath. He struggled to get to the castle as pain spread through his body, mostly him rump. His legs and feet dragged him miserably inside where he collapsed onto the rug, groaning and panting. Everything spun around as he saw Iris run over to him... Since when were there three Iris', he thought. He giggled weakly while his body became numb before he closed his eyes.

" What in the hell happen to him?!" Owen demanded to the two guards who stood outside Spat's room while Iris had put him in his bed, checking for a fever.

The squinty eyed hamster shrugged, " We-We don't know! We were with you most of the time! We came back for lunch and we hadn't seen him anywhere! It's like he came outta' nowhere!"

Archer stepped in to account for his rival surprisingly, " Exactly! We heard Iris yelling, came to see what was wrong and found the him laying on the rug downstairs! He has bruises, bite marks, and claws marks. We helped clean him up, but the weird part was that he looked like he had just taken a bath!"

The three stood there arguing before Iris stepped out from Spat's room, all three looked to her. " He's not seriously injured, no deep wounds, no fractures. He's going to be completely fine. He doesn't seem to have a fever either. He might have ran outside to play, got lost and dragged himself back here. But then... That wouldn't explain how clean he is..." She pondered while the others peeked in, concerned as they saw the small hamster sleep in his bed almost completely still.

Among living in this world, some take love the wrong way.


	9. Impressive Fight of Sharing Help

A few days passed by before Spat would finally get out from his bed and walk without any soreness or pain. When he went to take a shower, the others grew more worried as the small hamster would take up to two hours in the tub. When another hamster went to wash, they were struck down with frigid icy water that Spat had left it on. They couldn't figure out why he took long cold showers and not talk much. He seemed more sluggish and tired than usual, which soon led to his friend, Aisling tearing up when she visited his room to try and play with him. Her and Harmony tried to get the runt's attention, asking him things that he enjoyed talking about, or marveling over some devices he had made. The only response they were able to get out of him was silence. Thankfully he started to come around when he thought about Minas who wasn't as full of life and excitement as he was, but didn't want to end up like him or Steen. So once he was able to walk without trouble, he did his best to be in a good mood, sometimes forgetting how he felt and feeling like he use to.

Today, the chubby friend of Owen ran over to the younger hamster with a big smile on his face. He waved a small note in his paws joyfully, " Spat, I got this notification that there's lots of seeds in a place called, Sunny Seed Shards! I-I had to tell someone, and I know you won't tell anyone right? I really wanna gather a whole bunch, bring them back, and share them with everybody!"

" Sure Mister Devin! Sharing is caring after all! I'll see you later, good luck, pfth!" The tiny hamster giggled as Devin kneeled down to give him a hug and pat before trailing out of the castle and soon the town. Spat was glad to have the tubby hamster around, he would always share his food and try to read stories to him, but most of the time due to being Owen's right hand ham, he was pretty busy. That didn't stop Devin from concerning about others than himself though. Ass Spat was stuck in a small realm of thinking of Devin, he soon heard a crashing sound coming from the kitchen. This time he would be lured into another trap, still being a bit touchy from his experience with Rexford. He snatched out his small sword before making way to where the crash was. He stopped as he hesitantly looked to the wall that had a another sword, hilted on the wall as decoration.

Spat jumped into the kitchen wielding the two swords in each tiny paw, a somewhat menacing look in his eyes, glancing around. " Woah hey there tyke! What's with the swords?!" One of the royal guards looked at him, his squinty eyes in shock as he saw the young hamster wield the dual blades. Spat calmed himself down as he saw Graeme having mittens on his paws as a metal bowl sat there on the tile, " Jeez, easy, easy. What's with all this hate in ya eyes?!" Spat huffed lightly, an irritated looks spread over his face, mostly due to the fact that Graeme was always loud. " Man, sorry if my cooking is a bit dull. Just don't mince them okay?" The older hamster pointed to a bowel on the counter then at the swords. Another thing Spat had grown to dislike were the awful puns that he made, sometimes they didn't even make a lick of since. And just having gone through something bad he couldn't recall, just made him more irritable.

" Graeme, please restrain yourself. And since when do you cook?" A voice asked from the other side of the tiled room. The voice belonged to the rival, Archer who had a very unamused look on his face. Spat was glad to at least have another hamster who disliked the taste of puns. The only down side was when the two were in the room, they would either argue, complain, bicker, or fight for their affection of Iris. Spat found it so moronic that the two fought over someone they had 'feelings' for... Then again, it was better than them committing suicide or sacrificing themselves.

" Since I found out what Iris' favorite type of cake is!" The guard protested boldly.

" Oh you mean, without this recipe~?" Archer pulled out a small note, waggling it around to taunt his rival.

" You... Ya sneaky lil' theivin' rat!" Graeme's fur started to puff up on the back of his neck while the goggle wearer smirked at the others spite. Spat on the other hand had a different reaction to the word now, a small spasm clawed at him on the inside, making his eye twitch.

" Me?! I'm the one who bought this recipe! How does that make me a rat?! Archer snarled out, getting the other hamster more riled up. Another prick at Spat's neck made the runt twitch then shiver. Before he knew it both hamsters had drawn out a weapon, Graeme with a rolling pin, while Archer with a large spoon of decoration that sat on the wall's shelf. Both came closer and closer to the other holding their blunt weapons as they shouted, accusing the other as a rat.

At this point, Spat jumped in the middle of the two, both blades sticking up near the tips of the other hamsters noses, but still a bit away from any real harm, " ENOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUGH!" He cried out as the two superior hamsters backed up in shock from Spat's outburst. They had never seen the young child shout like this before, let alone see him wield two weapons at once with such speed. But behind all that, they had never seen, heard, or even imagined him as the out bursting into pure anger type. " You two are driving me up the fucking wall! And before you ask, yes I learned that word from Steen being a loser, drinking himself until he can't handle anything, pfth! I have been through so much, and you two are really pushing it, pfthpfth!" Spat huffed and panted, not realizing he had so much anger pent up.

The two were about to put down the weapons of choice, but Iris walked in from the shouting, making the two love struck hamsters go back to bickering to each other ignoring the runt who groaned. Iris walked to the trio, slapping the two royal guards and picking up the tiny hamster gently, patting his back to calm him down. " You two are acting like overgrown children while this child is acting more mature than you, trying to split you two apart from fighting. Seriously what is this all about...?"

Before the two could explain or well... bicker more about the other and the cake, Spat sighed deeply, " They both like you, and want you for pfth, themselves or something stupid about love like that." Spat was just in a full on, I'm tired of this shit attitude today.

Iris blinked before looking at the other two almost emotionless, " Really? And what do you think would want me to date even one of you, no offense."

" Well obviously by getting something you like or watching Aisling more." The squinty eyed hamster suggested, receiving a blank star from his crush.

" You two do realize that the king needs you much more than I do. That and whenever you watch her, she normally tends to leave you two and be by herself, complaining that she doesn't like being babysat by you right?" The two hamsters stood there in silence, their ignorance had gotten the better of them, not knowing how that the tiny foster sister felt about the two. " What will make you two stop this?"

Archer cleared his throat, " Obviously, p-picking who you like more." Seeing as that wasn't going to happen soon, an idea curved into Spat's head, letting him whisper it to Iris who then put him down.

Iris smiled, knowing how the guards failed at fighting each other, now knowing they'd fail even more that they were flustered by her presence, " Alright. Here's a thought. In the courtyard, whoever wins, I will date. Be it Archer or Graeme. Only wooden swords, and... Spat here can join in as well. If he wins then you two stop fighting each other and stand up for what really matters. Go it?" The two hesitantly thought to themselves before agreeing. Of course knowing the two well, they wouldn't team up on Spat then fight, they'd fight each other first and ignore him.

Out in the courtyard two held their wooden weapons while Iris, Aisling, and Oreo watched on the steps leading to the inside of the castle. Spat walked by the trio who sat there, Aisling cheering on as he walked to the other two holding two wooden swords. Graeme was a bit baffled, " Hey! How come he gets two?!"

Oreo yelled out to him, " Because he's smaller than you two, and I know for a fact the two of you can't handle two swords at once while I taught him how!"

" Stupid cow-bellin'..." Graeme mumbled to himself with the weirdest cursing Spat ever heard.

Iris clapped her paws, " Okay go!"  
And with that the two older hamsters' eyes locked onto the other, dashing as they raised their wooden blunt swords, swinging them down, trying to hit the other. All the while, completely ignoring Spat who jumped in between the two when they had made some room, backing away from any hits. The two hadn't even noticed him until a wooden sword came from under their noses, smacking their swords far away to the stairs. The two older hamsters watched as their own swords flew into the air and land away from them, clattering on the ground. Both in shock, looked below to see what had hit their weapons away from their paws. Spat smiled to both of them with a smug grin before jumping up and bonking the two on the head with the blunt fake swords. The two both fell back holding onto their head, going ow, ow, ow.

Spat happily walked over to the three who cheered him on and clapped, Oreo especially, " See kid, told you it was handy to learn to wield two instead of one."

As Aisling and Iris went to go help the two goobers who had their asses kicked by a tiny child, Owen and the King came around from the side, as the two had just discussed something concerning mice. " Wow. I'm jealous." Owen admitted.

" That's because you never learned how to attack with two blades. Maybe I should get you one." Oreo suggested, getting a tiny shake of no from Owen.

" Nah, I'm good. It's hard to focus on wielding two swords at the same time, but I'm impressed Spat managed to." Owen congratulated the runt while the king looked around.

" Say where is Devin? Normally around this time he would be sitting under that tree reading and nibbling on some food." The king questioned to the small group. Spat remained silent, though Beryl seemed to over hear him as she walked out from the castle's door. The tiny hamster hid behind Owen, not wanting to do anything with Beryl, scared to tell her what happen by her boyfriend.

" He said something about going to a place called ' Sunny Seed Shards." Spat's ears lowered, he looked at her from behind Owen in confusion, how had she known where he went? Did he tell her too? His thoughts were cut off by Owen who immediately turned to her.

" There's no place called Sunny Seed Shards, only Sunny Snake Sha-" He hadn't even finished his own sentence as realization hit him. " WE NEED TO GO NOW! ARCHER! GRAEME! I NEED YOUR HELP! SPAT, BERYL STAY HERE!" He rushed to the two guards explaining a situations. As the two heard the desperation in his voice they ran to the castle, quickly leaving it and out the gate with Owen with their main weapons. Beryl and Spat ran after them, Spat grabbing the two swords Oreo watched over.

Beryl called out, " WAIT! WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

Owen yelled back to her, " DEVIN'S IN DANGER STAY HERE! I WON'T LET YOU NEAR ANY DANGER! SAME FOR YOU SPAT!" Beryl's pace started to fade away, while Spat still kept his pace, not caring. Beryl hadn't even made an attempt to stop him, possibly because he was too far away or thoughts flashed in her head with all the excitement.

The three hamsters made it across the bridge where Milo and his crew had set up some tents. Upon seeing the leader run by, Milo quickly told his crew to follow along with him while two mice stayed back to watch over Harmony. All of the rodents dashed out from the town and into an area of a grassy field. Spat tagged along from behind, hiding at any point he could. When he stopped as the others did to search their location, he felt something touch his shoulder. He gasped lightly, turning his head, seeing it was King Yenene, " Wha-what are you doing here, pfth?!" He quietly yelled out to the king.

" I never get to go anywhere anymore ever since the museum was robbed. I'm not letting something horrible happen to another member of my family. I'm sticking up just like you."

" O-Okay, but don't scare me like that... What do you make of it?" Spat asked the elder hamster.

" Odd... Why are there seeds all over the place?" He asked himself looking up. A small habit he had when he thought to himself. " This is snake territory, no one comes around here-." He halted his own words, picking up Spat and heading to the group who were puzzled, before being shocked that the king and Spat were there.

Owen harshly spat out in a hushed tone, " Yenene! The hell are you doing?! And why is he her-" He was silenced as the king pointed up. The large group slowly looked up to find a rather large snake having it's jaw wrapped around Devin's upper torso as the rest of it coiled around the lower half. The snake was too distracted with its meal as it sat perched on a low branch above them all. Owen began to choke on his breaths, seeing his friend was no more than just a meal for another animal.

The king put a paw on Owen's shoulder as his other arm held onto Spat, " I'm sorry. but, we should just leave..." His words were pained as well, but Owen instead pushed his king away, throwing his sword at the snake. Like Spat had been earlier, Owen was caught in the middle of his rage, however unlike Spat, he didn't keep grip on it knowing when to stop like when Graeme and Archer went back to bickering when they saw Iris.

The snake instinctively dropped Devin, looking down to see what hit it, hissing at Owen. It struck out at the hamster who jumped back in time. Milo uttered, " SHIT! TAKE FIRE!" He ordered his own team as they took out their bows and arrows, firing at the snake as their leader did. The snake hissed out, falling off the branch from the amount of good shots from the arrows, along with them being shot at a surprising speed. Once on the ground it slithered to the mice who managed to get out of the way, only to fall in a crack in the ground which did keep them safe for the time being. Milo kept shooting at the serpent as it slid around on its belly, using it's muscles to move swiftly and snap at him. Owen didn't know what to do now that the snake was near, Milo's team had gone into hiding as they tried to peek out to shoot, and his sword now stuck in the snake's back. He needed a diversion, which came to him quickly as Spat and the king both leaped to its tail, piercing it with their swords. One of which was the extra Spat grabbed, handing it to Yenene.

The snake wriggled around in pain, letting Milo slide behind a rock. The snake swiftly turned around to bite two who had trouble getting their blades out from its scales. Just as their eyes made contact with the snake's, a large bolted arrow sped through air and skewered the snake's left eye. The snake swung it's body around in shock and pain. Archer readied another bolt in his crossbow, locking onto the snake in his cross-hairs. He fired again, getting the bolt to sink into the snake's side. Graeme took this opportunity to run to the massive reptile, dragging his large battle axe behind him. He jumped onto the bolt that was stuck on the side, then jumped off of it, swinging the axe with a mighty slice.

Graeme landed on his back, dropping his axe in process while the head of the snake nearly toppled over on him, " BWAAAH!" He yelled out in fright before being doused with some blood that shot out from the now decapitated body, still wriggling about from its nervous system. " Awww man..." He groaned, disgusted. As the group helped Graeme back up, Milo and Archer helped the mice out from the crack in the ground. Out of all of this no one was injured badly. They wished could be said the same for Devin whose had suffocated from the bone gripping body of the snake.

After pushing the snake down a small hill and burying Devin near the tree, the group went back to town. Owen has been severely punished as the king yelled at him, but was taken on some pity since h had just lost his best friend. Spat could somewhat sympathize with him, but not enough since he didn't really have a 'best friend'. Thankfully, Graeme and Archer seemed to become buddies, as they learned to team up instead, just as Iris told them to. Spat got to spend some time with the mice and Harmony, while Milo got to thank Yenene for saving his ass, which the king kept saying 'it wasn't a problem'. The only downside was that Devin was now gone and Owen went into shock, however since he was more bold than Steen and Minas, he didn't completely avoid everyone. He just became a bit more seldom and quiet much like Spat. But he wouldn't let it trudge on and on. He'd eventually get better. Fortunately Iris really helped Owen out since she wasn't constantly being harassed now, making his shocked recovery go by more smoothly.

Spat learned that some simply want show love by helping out, and not in a romantic way. Some will fight for love, while others try to impress for love. And that Some give out love by sharing...


	10. Realistic Nightmares

Another week went by for Owen to recover from his shock as Spat had with his own type of shock of pain and betrayal. Milo and Harmony seemed to visit more frequently, they were even allowed to keep their tents at one of the entrances of the town, next to one of the many bridges. It seemed Owen was pass figuring out it Milo was an okay guy or not, since the mouse was finally invited over to the castle for being pretty trustworthy. Of course the guards and Owen kept their ground in case Milo was a spy, but from watching him care for the small albino hamster like a daughter made them think otherwise. Ever since Milo helped the king evade the snake from striking him, the two chatted while him and Owen became rather good friends. Spat or anyone else in the castle had never seen the king be so happy with someone. It was a different happy from him and Owen, which was more of a family bond. But for the king and Milo, they seemed to get along without a problem.

In fact Spat one time with Archer caught a glimpse of the two nuzzling their noses together, making the goggled hamster push Spat out of view as he shooed himself away. The runt was confused and told Harmony and Aisling about it. Harmony giggled, " Teehee, I think they just like each other~"

Spat tilted his head while Archer snatched Graeme who had been looking at the two from behind a door, peeking slightly. " So... Like, what, are they in love with each other? Are we sure one of them isn't going to hurt the other, pfth?"

Archer sat back down with the two kids, dragging the brown and grey hamster over with him, " Spat, don't be rude. We're pretty sure Milo isn't a spy, no offense to me saying that miss Harmony."

Graeme muttered rubbing his ear that was pinched to get him to be dragged over. Spat was still confused, starting to get a bit mad, " But, when two guys like each other, they just hurt the other, right?"

The southern accent hamster looked at him, " Who in the blazes told you that?"

" Well, I just figured, cause... Nothing." Spat hushed his voice, looking down at the glimmering tiled flooring.

Archer groaned, " Look kids, guys normally like girls. But sometimes, they like other guys. I-I'm mean, it's not a BAD thing. it's just... Different."

Graeme's lips curved, " Which also means girls can like girls too, mreow~" With a click of the upper roof of his mouth, the other guard punched his arm, rewarding him with an 'ow' along with confused looks from the kids.

Spat's ears went down, twitching, he gulped before asking the older two, " Then... What about kids and older ham-hams?" As soon as he asked, the two royal guards stiffened up, looking to him, greatly disturbed. Archer even raised up his goggles slowly, Spat seeing his eyes for once. And those eyes were filled with great unsettlement.

" Wh-wh... What?"

The other guard leaned over, " Woah, hold up Spat, it doesn't work like that. TH-That's sick an-and immorally wrong! I-It's horrible and twisted! Ju-Just like 'love' loving your sibling or relative!"

" Yeah you would know all about that." Archer said, as a snarky come-back.

" WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN?! JUST CAUSE I'M FROM DOWN SOUTH DUN' MEAN I DO THAT!" The two began arguing before any of them could notice Spat abandoned them. Harmony followed the other child with Aisling by her side.

Harmony reached out, grabbing onto Spat's shoulder, which got her a swift turn from Spat, shoving her down away from him, " DON'T TOUCH ME, PFTH!" He screamed out to her as she stumbled back, falling onto her bum. Her amber colored eyes started to form small tears while Aisling knelt to her side, holding her paw. Spat's ears swung back behind his head, all the rage turned into realization that he just made one of his friends cry. He backed up, ashamed of himself for even harshly touching the small girl. He soon ran off down the hallway to be left alone.

Alas the other hamsters were told what happen from Aisling and Harmony, thankfully Harmony hadn't burst into tears. She was just saddened to see her friend act like this, he never did these kind of things before. They all agreed that since Owen was his mentor, and was highly respected by the young hamster that he'd go talk to him. Owen might have recorded from shock, but he wasn't necessarily the best to talk to after Devin's passing. But he had his morals and duty, so he'd try his best. He went to Spat's room, standing next to the closet, where Spat would hide himself away when he was upset. He gently knocked on the door, " Spat... Come on buddy, it's okay. Harmony's not hurt or crying... How bout you come on out and tell me what's wrong?" It took several silent filled minutes before the door opened, Spat slinking out from the doorway, closing it once out and crawling onto his bed. Owen sat next to him, softly and carefully putting his paw on Spat's back, receiving a small shudder from the young hamster.

" I don't know. I'm just confused and upset I guess. I just want to be alone, pfth." He didn't want to say anything about the rat king, considering he WAS Beryl's boyfriend, and he knew Owen cared about her. And for her to get upset by what Spat would say, just made him more worried. So, he did what he promised, by keeping his mouth shut about the whole thing.

Owen's ears curved as an eye raised in a puzzled look, " Since when did you stop your stuttering and start saying 'pf-pf...' 'Pfth" He couldn't even pronounce the tiny tick correctly.

" Ever since I was told it means, I love you." Spat shrunk down, clutching his arms with his paws, hunching his shoulders up defensively.

" Who told you that?" Owen questioned, legitimately at a loss with what was going on with his tiny squire.

" ... No one, I just made it up to help me from stuttering." It seemed to be an understanding to have a different tick that wasn't as harsh when forming sentences, so Owen thought that it had been fine. " Can I lay here. I'm just tired..." Owen sighed lightly, letting him move away. But before he walked out from the room Spat spoke up, " Could. Could you come check on me? Maybe tell me a story while I you know. Just think, pfth." Owen agreed before stepping out. He consulted the others while Milo and Harmony had to get back to the other mice. The others were very troubled and worried, trying to figure out something. Spat meanwhile stayed in his room, on his bed, waiting for Owen to come back. Owen however had placed himself on a window's edge, watching the village below and around him, thinking. Thinking about many things like, Spat, Devin, Milo with the King, protecting the village with barely any team members, how Steen was holding up, and why Beryl wasn't pestering him as much as she use to. Every thought was just jumbled up in his mind, thinking the fresh air outside the castle could help clear his thoughts.

For Spat on the other hand... Had fallen asleep as he waited for Owen to return. His mind fell into a calm state of being where it was quiet while images rattled around his mind to form a dream. With all the confinement, the images started to form more and more sinister, slowly drifting the hamster into a nightmare of hellish memories. Spat found himself in a complete and empty pitch black void, though he could see himself, so it wasn't like all the lights were out. He stumbled around, tripping over something that felt cold to the touch. Looking down, he noticed thin long tails wrapping around his foot, pulling him backwards, letting him fall front on his face. He clawed the ground but was far too weak as the tail slide him across the ground and back to the middle of the darkness. His eyes began to focus a bit more once the tail slithered away from him. He could tell he wasn't in a void, just a black room that felt rather cold.

Before he could walk to a side of the large room, an unknown entity grabbed him, roughly pulling him to what felt like a slimy water bottle from when he was in a cage. The invisible grasp on him tightened, forcing him onto his knees in front of, what was an actual water bottle that was filed with some type of liquid he couldn't make out. A dark distorted voice spoke to him, " Go on... We know you're thirsty from your snack. Go on, drink it all up." He struggled against the invisible force, only to get his face rub up against the water bottle roughly. " NOW." The voice commanded. He gulped before drinking the water bottle with a bitter taste. This lasted a bit until the water bottle seemed to break, flowing the salty water in his mouth, making him gag, pull back and hack up some water. " Good boy. For your reward, we'll make you feel real nice."

The voice was to distorted for Spat to make out who it was or where it came from even. As he finished coughing up the water the invisible force scooped him up, placing him on a rather comfortable sponge like material. He was put on his belly as he felt something frozen touch him down below. He gasped out, clutching onto the sponge, shutting his eyes tightly. His entire lower body went numb like it was all asleep, only noticing that the sponge he laid on moved around like he was on a swing. He didn't feel a thing, just felt being rocked back and forth on the sponge. Finally the numbness stopped and he was flipped around by the poltergeist. He was lifted up to another sponge, one that was better for absorption on impact, mainly used for cars. He felt flames sparking near his hips and thighs, he struggled, getting a better grip on the sponge, until he froze, seeing a snake's head rise up to him.

The snake hissed out, " Ready to feel even better?" The snake's mouth didn't budge as it asked it's rhetorical question. " Good." The snake's jaw unhinged itself as it then clamped down onto Spat's lower torso. His tiny claws clung onto the sponge, as his teeth gritted as the he felt the snake's tongue coiling around his legs. He gasped in panic as soon as his fur was grazed by many tiny teeth that snake's never had. Spat cried out before spitting at the snake.

Spat's body strained before the snake dropped him, letting him fall from the sponge and slamming onto the floor. The small hamster drooled a bit, slowly but surely crawling away with his arms while his legs didn't respond as they were soaked with the snake's saliva. The voice came around again in a harsh yet playful tone, " Ohhh, now that wasn't very nice. Looks like someone needs to be taught a lesson for spitting in." Spat shakily moved away, only to be dragged back to the puddle of snake slime. A snake slithered around him, slowly turning into a scaly tail, which proceeded to wrap around the runt's wrists tightly. The tip of the tail kept a firm grip as it carried him up, letting his feet dangle. Spat was far to shaken up and numbed to move his legs around, even if he saw what seemed to be a rubber spike below him. The tail lowered him acting as a crane while two disembodied claws grabbed his sides, roughly forcing him down, his back sliding against the spike, clipping off some back fur. He yelled out at the top of his lungs in pain as the spike came closer to pinching his skin.

It all stopped abruptly as the tail let him go, falling onto the hard cold ground again. His voice has cracked from yelling out, " Like that huh? Don't worry, it knows another trick. You seem to really enjoy the tail." The voice rang through his ears and head. He painfully opened his eyes seeing the tail squirming as it surrounded him. The tail struck at the hamster, wrapping around him as the loose end slithered about below him. The tail's grip tightened just as Spat felt the tip brush up against his legs. Again, the numbing sensation flooded his body, paralyzing him, making him gasp out in unknown pain and sobbing as he couldn't move.

The tail unwrapped the small hamster from its crushing coil, letting him flop onto the ground once more. The invisible force came back, lifting him gently up to one last sponge. Spat choked out as tears ran down his cheeks, burning his eyes with their salt. " Pl-P..Pl-Please... N-N-N-No-No more." He inhaled deeply, breathing out making a 'pfth' sound. The voice demonically laughed, amused by him.

" Aww, that's adorable! Pfth! AHAHAHAHA! You should say that more often! That's such a cute thing instead of boring old stuttering! You know, I'm making my own dictionary! I think, Pfth will stand for... I LOVE you ehahaha!" The numbness soon returned, overwhelming Spat's body to its full extent. Large claws placed his own tiny arms down onto the sponge. He looked up as he lay on his back, his mind breaking as he saw a large grin and yellow eyes. " Ohoho Spat. Your just a dumb old hamster. Nobody could ever really love you. Especially since I've marked you as my little slut.~" It chimed as the teeth and eyes leaned in closer, everything soon vanishing into blackness.


	11. Hatred of False Love

The next morning, Spat's door flung open then quickly closed, the small grey and brown hamster, Aisling quickly grabbed a chair and placed it under the door's knob. She ran to Spat, grabbing the javelin gun as he dizzily lifted his eyes open. " Aisling wha-what are you do-" Without a chance to finish his question he grabbed hold of his wrist, pulling him off of the bed and crawling under it with him. She place a finger over his mouth to quiet him. A serious look plastered on her face, one of which the other child never saw before. Aisling slowly handed him a blade, a small dagger she had snatched before searching for Spat. Something was very wrong. Just as he was about to question what was going on in his head, the door produced a loud bang or thump. The knob jiggled furiously, unknown gruff voices came from beyond the wooden barrier. Eventually something hit the door with enough force, splitting off some wood. A few more swings and a blade made its way through. The process continued until an arm reached down, sliding the chair to the side, letting in the intruder. The door gave way, being swayed open as mice in reddish brown hoods slinked into the room. Most had bows and arrows while one carried around an axe. They snooped around the room, opening the closet and wardrobe, looking in a large toy chest which had been filled with Spat's smaller inventions.

" There's about five of them... get ready" Aisling whispered softly to her friend, letting Spat calm himself to put his game-face on. One mouse knelt down, putting their head low to the floor to look under the bed. As soon as the mouse was about to call out, their body wriggled a bit before being consumed under the bed. The others were still looking around the large room, not noticing that one of their comrades had been dragged under the bed. Under the bed however, Spat held onto the mouse's wrists as Aisling loaded the wooden device. She was thankful that Spat taught her how to use it, and with real ammo as well. Small sharpened wooden sticks were suffice. Spat let go of the mouse as it finally stopped it's struggle, a javelin lodged in its throat. Aisling had been there for more than Spat, so she was use to these types of things, having to grow up to be tough ever since her parents were lost to a snake after all. Spat on the other hand thought it was a bit cruel, but after seeing his friends be decimated and his innocence snatched away, he didn't feel remorse for the mouse. These mice we're not with Milo, that was for sure, he had gone to know their face and fur, these ones were different.

Aisling signaled to Spat, both crawling out from under the bed, each one from a different end. Aisling shot out the javelins, making them puncture a mouse who had just turned around, making him fall back. The others heard him gasp out, quickly turning around, only to have one of them being jumped on by the runt as the dagger slid across their throat. The last bow user aimed and fired to Spat, just to have the hamster block the arrow with the body of the mouse he clung onto. Aisling jumped out of the way from mouse with the axe who was trying to grab at her. She fired the javelins, getting the axe-wilder in the face. The mouse who had shot at Spat quickly took aim to Aisling. Spat dropped the body, running to the bow user, shoving them away, letting them misfire the arrow to go out into the hall, piercing the wall. The mouse kicked the run away while Aisling had trouble reloading. The mouse got up to make a mad dash and grab Spat. Spat slammed his balled up paw onto the floor, making a small lever pop out. When the lever was pulled, the flooring below the mouse opened up, making them drop only a few inches, but just enough to be wounded and paralyzed. What lay under the floor were hundreds of sharp metal edges that Spat had acquire whenever Oreo had left over parts. The mouse groaned in pain while the two fled the room, running down the hallway only to get grabbed from behind the corner.

A large number of mice had been waiting for them since they had been making their way down the hall, only to see the arrow fly from the room. Other than helping, they rather lay low and catch the two by surprise if the other hadn't been able to apprehend them. The mice held onto the two tightly, others removing their weapons and walking off as they held them. While the rest followed the ones who dragged the hamsters down the hallways. Eventually the two were dragged out from the castle, their backs sliding step from step of the small stairs that lead to the castle. The two were then taken outside the castle's gate, where they both witnessed hundreds of mice all around holding down the villagers of the town. The mice turned them around, forcing the two onto their knees so that they along with all the town's folk could watch what was going on in the very center of town where the light shined onto the statue of the king's many greats grandfather.

Spat almost shut down completely, his body violently shaking as his eyes viewed someone sitting on the statue of the founder. That rodent being, Rexford who sported a royal red cape around his neck. The rat just sat there, kneeling over, looking down as in deep thought. A voice called out, something about 'we're here'. Much to his dismay, he along with all the others looked over, seeing Beryl marching down a crowd of mice who stepped out from her way. She was actually leading some troops of mice behind her as she held onto a bright vibrant red pillow, " We're here Rexy~!" She chimed out to her boyfriend.

Rexford mumbled quietly, only some hamster nearby like Spat getting to hear his hushed tone, " Beeeeryl not in front of the guys." He cleared his throat, soon after another call was heard. Mice in the crowds moved, but not as much as they made way for the brown hamster with pink bows. The mice dragged a roughed up King and Owen, dragging them past other townsfolk. The mice pulled them in front of the statue, shoving them down to their knees before some other mice stepped in to hold the hamsters ears, deterring their heads to look at Rexford. Rexford hopped off from the monument, placing his claws behind his back and under his robe, " Well, well, well, well, well. This is a surprising scene is it not?"

The king growled out, " WHO THE DEVIL ARE YOU?! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?! Aren't you just the rat of the king of Fountain Falls?!"

" Just the brother... Just the rat? Ohoho, that's funny. I think of myself more of a... Visionary." The rat waved his large scaly tail, " It's really nice to meet you too Yenene. This whole town as well. I really like it, that's why I'm taking it."

" Then why are you here?! Your brother is going to know of this!" Yenene yelled out, just to have his cheek slapped with the end of Rexford's tail.

" No he won't. Here's the thing. The kingdom has gone down significantly ever since my brother passed away. "

The hamster king mouth dropped, " Melchizedek is dead? B-But, my father and him we're the best of friends! They stopped visiting ever since my father had fallen ill!"

" That's what happens when one king is friends with another. He never deserved that crown! If I had it the kingdom wouldn't be in ruins! You see, story is, my brother ruled it and the economy was going all downhill. We we're starving ever since he put a ban on going into people's homes to steal food! So I just did what had to be done, for my town. After he 'accidentally' tripped down the stairs, I could finally help my town! MY MICE!" The mice cheered as their leader yelled out victoriously. " But then, there was my brother's bastard son. Only born so that he could inherit the throne, which is such bullshit honestly. So I did what I had to and hunted him down. We didn't find him, but at least he never came back, the little shit."

The king sighed softly, " Oliver..."

Rexford smiled widely, " And then, among searching for him. I happen to find this wonderful jewel who had been carelessly tossed out!" He put a claw to his cheek, making a small pouty face, insisting his girlfriend to join him by his side. Beryl skipped on over, Owen and the king shocked to find their former friend, their family member now with this tyrant.

" Be-BERYL?! BERYL WHAT THE HELL?!" Owen screeched out, emotion ran through him, mixing around only to be spit back up.

" Yoooou~! Left her~!" Rexford sang out before snarling at Owen's face, making the mice who held him down even get startled.

Beryl huffed, " I always loved you, but you were too stupid to notice it! I always made my advancements, but you never paid any attention! It was like you were already married to justice or something! You've forgotten my birth-days, my plans to spend time, hell even dinner!"

" I w-was busy-"

" BUSY WITH KEEPING EVERYONE ELSE SAFE AND HAPPY AND LALA!" She grabbed her small bows that held her hair on her cheeks, removing them so that the hair could sway down, reveling how long it really was. " Well screw you and your stupid bows you gave to me when we met, cause I'm done with you! Hmf! Besides, now everyone can see how beautifully long my fur is, just like Sondra."

Owen and Yenene paused before they reacted harshly. As they were about to yell out to her, a familiar sober voice was heard nearby, close to Spat. It was Steen who was held down by the mice, right next to his nurse/doctor who had been helping him move on. " WHAT?! YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Beryl signaled for the mice to bring the former band member to her along with the other two hamsters. Steen snarled out, struggling, avoiding eye contact with his nurse who seemed more worried than one would with a patient. Once he was placed next to the others Beryl slapped him. Some hamsters noticed the nurse was highly offended by this and almost made an outburst but instead and just leaned on one of the mouse's leg as the held onto her. The mouse whined a bit from the harsh strong lean, now trying to shove their leg out of place. " WHY?! WHY DID YOU DO IT?!"

" She was just small collateral damage. My brave Rex wouldn't go against all of you guys. I know it, since I've seen for so many years! I had to lower us down a peg. If only she hadn't gotten so close to the edge like her conniving broken brother would, she'd be here."

Steen's ears flattened out, " Wait, Minas sent me a note that said those words- You... Y-You played us out."

Beryl smiled happily, " Yes~! I'm the one who wrote that, and besides I was the one to tell you that bar wouldn't kick you out because the old geezer there is to generous. OH! But what that? How Minas could join his lover?! He was so smart, he'd never do anything like that! Unless... He got a reminder from you along with a letter from you~!"

" I never wrote a letter." Steen stated.

" Yes, but I did~! besides that, I was the one who encouraged him, saying certain things. All he needed was a little push, and he would let himself join her."

Tears ran down Steen's cheeks, " I was so hard on him. I didn't mean..." He stopped, shaking, " No I didn't. IT WAS YOU! YOU TOOK THEM AWAY! Did you take Bernard too?! DID YOU?!" He angrily spat out as the two were always the big tough knuckleheads.

" Yes. His constant affection towards me was always a bit stale. You'd be surprised what an army of mice, cutting wire and unsanitary loose screws can get a girl." She splayed out her paws, checking her small nails, " But how to get a cat near those who'd be eaten when it woke up? Good thing toy stores have little security. What a wonderful invention a girl like me could achieve with a tree spot over the yarns, and a toy police car's controls. Thing was so noisy it would make any cat curious in such a quiet part of town don't you think? Though it would have been better if that cat had gotten all of you, especially with that remote car almost running over the new kid."

Next to get uppity was Owen, " HE ALWAYS LIKED YOU! HE WAS ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU WHEN I WASN'T!"

" Yes well, he wasn't my type. And besides, you'd rather hang out with Devin."

" What did you just sa-..." Thoughts rushed into his head, overfilling it with emotions and rage, " You. You told him about the seeds."

" Bingo~! Again, it's so weird how one letter can make someone do something so stupid! All we had to do was chuck seeds out in the pasture and run off, not having to get to close to snakes.

Yenene glared at her bitterly, " I always thought of you as a daughter. How dare you turn your back on us! Why?! For what?! Just so you could have your filthy boyfriend take over because, what this place is nicer?!"

Rexford intervened letting Beryl taunt them in the back, " No. Originally I didn't give a shit about this place. In fact I was going to have my dear sweet Beryl move in with me. But something happen once I became king. When I threw out the ban, we invaded and raided so many homes that humans started setting up traps. When those traps broke down, they installed cameras that we didn't know about until AFTER the events came to be. The events being a strange, funny, smelling feeling in the air. Some of us got sick, some of us died. We found what had been causing it and how it happen. The cameras were watching us go back under the fountain of town, so they began to quietly gas us. But once Beryl and I noticed it, she had the lovely idea of a kingdom that was out of the range of cameras, as well as far enough from most human homes. And besides that, this tree is fairly endangered. Would humans go by the rule of going against their own laws? Not these folk. Their to peaceful, hell they even celebrate how old this tree is. If the elder got rid of this tree, than there would go the festivals of this small town. There would go profits, charisma, and so many other things. Now, I'm a kind king so, I'll let you Yenene and your folk free to wherever. Though don't try to come back here with reinforcements since some, 'rumors and thefts' have broken out against the squirrels and the lizards that hamster are pretty sly." He grinned, letting the king know, straight on that mice had been posing as hamsters and spreading rumors around making their allies turn away in time of need.

" Now then. Let me crown you, my genius of a king~!" Beryl perked up, finally moving the pillow away from her chest, reviling the dark purple cap that Rexford's great whatever had originally obtained. He knelt down as he held it up, " I bestow upon you, The Great Cap of Sabakunya!" She placed it onto his head, letting him stand back up proudly as mice who hadn't had a prisoner clapped.

" And know let me give this to you, my queen." He said smugly, daintily picking up the large bow on her head with his tail. He removed what he had been hiding behind his back and under his cape at last. It was a dazzling tiara with a glowing star branded on the front. Hamster mumbled concerned since that was the cap that was stolen from the museum. He delicately placed it onto Beryl, his tail wrapping around the discarded bow. This all made Spat cringe and shake more, making the mouse who held him wobble a bit. " Now, away with you peasants. Never return to OUR kingdom again. Oh and one last thing..." Mice began moving out the normal villagers along with the castle helpers, all except for the three that were right in front of him, and Spat. " YOU THERE! Bring him over here." The mouse dragged Spat over, the young hamster's body initially locked up, stiffening like he had tetanus, making it easier to pull him over. " I want to keep him. Is that alright dear?"

Beryl shrugged not really giving a shit. Owen had finally put two and two together, why Spat was not responding and seeing a sadistic grin on the rat's face, " DON'T!" They all turned to Owen except for the younger hamster who was seizing up. Owen gritted his teeth, " Take me instead. Let him go. I can work for you. Wouldn't you like to have a loyal servant under you... M-M..My lord?" Steen and the king turned to their family member oddly. Rexford and Beryl both turned to each other before looking back to the orange tinted hamster.

" Hmm. I always did want a right hand ham of a lackey. And besides who knows maybe we could all get together some time, get to know each other~" He grinned, making Owen shudder but not go against his word. Beryl seemed a bit excited as well, she could now have two of her boys instead of one. Rexford did in fact love her, to the much as, giving up something merely as a sex toy for her to be happy. And besides, it could benefit him as well, as a lewd rat he was. " You know what! We're sold! You, drag that wretched thing with the others!" Spat broke out of his trance, hearing the last bit of what the rat bellowed out.

" Ca-Can I please have j-just a moment with hi-him... Sir?" Owen stumbled around in his words, trying not to seem to desperate and to give respect at the same time.

" Again, I'm a generous kinda guy, sure, you have two minutes." He snapped his claws, the mice carried off the other two hamster while Rexford and Beyrl made their way to the castle.

The other mice let go of the two and waited next to the statue that was currently being dismantled by other mice. Tears swelled up in Spat's eyes, stinging the corners, " Owen?" He would had stuttered but, everything had changed his speech.

Owen knelt down in front of the young hamster, putting his arms on his tiny shoulders, " Everything's going to be alright Spat. Everything is going to be alright. You're going to be free and liv-live on with your life." He managed to choke out.

" What... Your coming too... Right, pfth?"

" No buddy. I-I have to stay here. I know I've been rough an-and haven't been able to spend as much time as I wanted with you. I'm really sorry... Please forgive me for all I've done." He burst into tears before holding Spat close tightly. He really had thought of him as a son or a younger brother " Please be good, be right, be better than me." Spat who was confused slowly began to put the pieces together, making him cry out as well clinging to Owen. Owen was the one who found him, taught him, brought him to a loving home and family. And now it was all being swept away under his feet.

" NO! I don't wanna pfth! I want to stay! I want to be with you! Don't leave me! You're the one who found me! Please! Your my first real friend, pfthpfth...pth... I-I-I l-love you!" Spat slowly broke down, hiccuping as a young scared and saddened child would. The two were dived by the small group of mice, some holding Owen back and two ripping Spat away from him. Spat flung widely before Owen could get his chance to say good bye. He screamed out, wailing, all while Owen got up to be unhanded by the mice. He regretfully looked up, ears down, smiling to calm Spat. He waved to him slowly whispering to himself, " Love ya too."

 **"If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were."**

 **― Kahlil Gibran**


	12. Leaving For The Wedding

Days went by as the young black and white hamster sat near a small crackling fire with his fellow friends. Other small campfires were also lit nearby as other hamsters huddled around them, chatting, trying to cook any food they found, or trying to cheer one another up. Spat sat there on a rather large twig, both elbows on his knees while his paw held up his head, deeply looking into the fire and thinking. The townsfolk had to travel a little, but hadn't made it to terribly far away from their old home that was now controlled by mice, head to toe. Yenene was keen on moving far away since he and many others were born at Root Town, but if things kept like this, they would all need to move further away. The king seemed distraught as no one could find sight or tail of Milo and Harmony. It was very clear, he wanted to see the mouse and if Harmony was doing well. Spat on the other hand kept growing more and more distant, not wanting to play with Aisling or any of the other kids. He wouldn't help Oreo with anything, and would sometimes start small fights other hamsters. He was too worried about Owen, and filled up with anger to Beryl.

That night once all the hamsters were sleeping in a large hollow log they had found, Spat stayed up, pretending to be asleep, waiting. Once his opportunity came, he got up and slowly snuck out from the log, running on all fours to the towering tree. He just had to see Owen, he had to see what the town became that let him in with open arms. He had to calm his urges to do something, anything instead of feeling stuck with nothing to do since it was all out of his control. He finally made it back to the ancient looking tree and scurried around carefully not to alert any guards on duty. After a while he stumbled upon an oddly shaped and colored circle of wood on the tree's side. He crept up to it, nudging it, then pulling it. He grunted slightly as the wood was only slowly making little progress. His pulls became harsh tugs as a light nearby flashed, three unknown voices mumbling to each other. Finally with a good twist, the wood popped out like a cork, letting Spat slide into the small hole, not caring to put the wood back in place.

The guards came over, noticing the piece of wood on the floor after one tripped over it, only to get mocked at by the other two. They looked about, noticing the small hole, " Ehh... Should we be reporting anything like this?"

Another mouse examined it, " Probably just a lizard or something. I mean look how tiny this hole is! You think King Rex moved any kids from Fountain Falls, to here? No, only us, the strongest."

" Does he not care about them, then?" The mouse who investigated asked the others, a bit worried.

The mouse scoffed, " Oh yes let's move the sickly lil' buggers here, great idea. Shut up and keep moving or we'll see if you can fit in that hole." The mouse who was at the hole sighed and followed along the other two who had laughed at him.

Spat made his way inside the tree, looking back, he saw that above the hole was a small plaque saying that it was an easy exit for small hamsters encase of emergencies. Spat had heard of these, just not much since they had never been used. That would have explained why it was a bit tedious to move. But for right now it didn't matter to him, instead he looked out to the town, not much had changed. But he still needed to cross a bridge, which he did while some guards were fishing, trying to see if there were minnows in the water as they casually chatted. Thankfully they were too distracted to notice him dash by and behind things to enter the main town. He knew the town almost as well as the back of his paw, so hiding around and away from any guards or nightly workers was pretty easy, especially since he could fit himself in small areas that were hard to see without proper light. The small hamster reached a side of the castle and quickly snuck around till he found the side of Yenene's garden as small vines had crawled up the wall over a while. He carefully hopped up onto them, making his way up the wall and down the other side quietly. There in the middle of the garden, sat Owen sitting on a lonely slab bench. Owen's ears perked up when they picked up the sound of bushed rustling, he drew out his sword, turning around to the noise.

To his surprise, Spat poked his head out, looking side to side, on alert for mice. It took a moment before Owen dropped his sword and gasped out in a mix of happiness, anger, and fear., " Spat?!" He choked out quietly. Spat smiled and walked out from the bushes. " Spat, is everyone okay-No what am I saying?! Spat you need to go! Now!" His joy quickly turned into concern.

" But, I had to come back! I needed to know if you were safe pfth! You don't know how bad Rexford is! The ham-hams need you, Yenene needs you, I need you, pfth! You shouldn't stay here alone! Please, I can help bust you out of here! We can do it together pfth!" Spat shouted out, but quietly as well. He walked to Owen putting a paw out, only to have it slapped away. Spat hobbled back, shocked to have his paw hit by Owen. He didn't make a sound even though his mouth parted slightly. The ears laid back, and small tears swelled his eyes.

Owen shakily stood his ground, " Spat-Look. I can't. I can't go back, I can't go with you. Don't make these decisions, their way out of your paws. Just go back and live out your life normally. Don't let your feelings get the best of you, their putting you in danger. I have to stay here. For the town, for Yenene, for you, okay? Just go. Leave! Grow up out there, don't waste your time on me! I gave up so you could do that!" He knelt down softly holding Spat's reddish paw, looking him in the eyes, " I'm sorry, but I need you to go. Be free, be happy."

" But I won't be happy if I don't have you around." Spat whined out. Thought Owen had always been quite busy, he would be there for Spat, ever since he found him and took him in. And with that, Spat didn't want to leave him, like others had.

" Please Spat... Just leave, okay? I know it's hard but you need to move on, don't let the past tie you down. This is the last you'll ever see of me, so make this moment proud and do as I say, and go-" Just as Owen was about to shove the smaller hamster back a voice chimed around from behind.

" Owen sweetie, stop mourning over by your lonesome and come insi-WHAT THE HELL?!" It was Beryl who had snuck over to surprise him, only for her to be surprised by the sight of Spat, " WHAT IS THIS RUNT DOING HERE?! We said, no other hamsters! REEEEEX!" She yelled out, only to get grabbed By Owen as a paw slammed over her mouth as she squirmed around. Spat took no hesitation and booked it out of the garden. He looked back over his shoulder to see the two struggle before running into something, making him fall back. He was ready to fight to run off, but upon looking up to see what he had hit, he completely froze over, muscles stiffing up his entire body. Rexford looked down with two guards side to side from him. He leaned over, picking up the petrified hamster.

The large rat walked to the two struggling hamsters, " Hey, hey, hey!" His tail swung overhead, pushing the two away from each other, " We can all get along, now... Before everyone gets on the wrong foot... Did you bring 'this' back or did 'it' sneak in?" Owen hesitated, only to have a rhetorical answer, " He broke in. Damn idiotic guards working on the outside-Okay fine, whatever. What are we to do with 'it' now?"

Owen gulped, " Let him go?"

The rat sighed, " No Owen. I think we should keep 'it'~"

Beryl's face turned red, her eyes glaring to him, puffing her cheeks up, " NO REX! We're not keeping the runt... Ju-Just kill him! We can't let him leave or he might come back like a kicked out puppy." She huffed out, having both the others expressions look at her shocked.

" Bu-But he's just a ki-" Beryl slapped Owen's cheek as he began to point out.

Rexford seemed a bit upset at the answer as well, " But-But my jewel, he-he could put out or uhm-" Beryl shot him a leer, making men fear an angry woman. " We-well do we really have to kill him?!" Though the rat seemed like he didn't give a shit about anything but Beryl and himself, he had a nasty soft spot for various things that he 'claimed'. " I-It'd be messy, and ugly, an-and, we'd have to bury him-"

" FINE! FINE! Just... I don't know, toss him into the water outside of town then!" Rexford and Owen both looked at Spat who was still stiff. The rat smiled very nervously, his claws shaking a bit, not entirely sure to the reason. Beryl sighed heavily before hopping up and grabbing the young hamster from her boyfriend. She started to walk away with the two guards. Shocked, the two other followed behind her quickly. As she walked out from the castle to the town's edge she angrily yammered on while Spat took in everything they were saying, but wouldn't flinch in the meantime. " I swear, if you're going to be a big pussy like this for the next five days until our wedding, we're going to have to postpone it yet AGAIN! In fact, I don't want Owen to be your stupid best man, lock him up in our old hideout, instead. ALSO! No getting feely with him when you put him there. I want some too. After the wedding, then hun. Then we can have a honeymoon with him as punishment, making him a good boy, got it?!" She snarled out as Rexford nodded fearfully. " I am not letting my wedding be ruined by your antics, Owen's selfishness, or this runt's life!" As she made it to the very edge, she carelessly tossed Spat from the ground, far away into the water. It was actually a good throw, but seeing as it was throwing a child to drown, made it not so great.

Spat snapped out of it once he felt cold water slam against his fur. He cried out for help, splashing wildly at the surface of water, seeing glimpses of Beryl watching the two making sure they wouldn't try to save him. Spat screamed out, only to for water to fill up into his mouth and nose. He gasped out trying to keep above the water, unfortunately his frantic flails were succumbed to weariness. He felt something pull at him, and another feeling of complete exhaustion. Spat sunk into the water, silently struggling, but not as rapid. He felt the water tug on his back, dragging him away from where he had fought with the water. The small current drifted him away while his eyes began to close, his body slowly letting the now still hamster cover his eyes in darkness.

Not long the small hamster regained the ability to open up his eyes, seeing a bright light just ahead of him. He tiredly and weakly inspected the white light that started to glow and shimmer. Either it was getting bigger or he was unknowingly floating to it. It gave off a feeling of warmth, calm, and happiness. His mind didn't think it through, his body and emotions were just mixed with pleasure of comfort. However much to the calming nature of the glow, it started to fade away back into darkness making the weary hamster confused but leaving him in a good feeling. The feeling was soon overcome by pain, weariness, and coldness. Spat's eyes snapped open as he sat up coughing, gagging, and vomiting out water that had trekked into his body. His eyes squinted as he threw up water and some of his dinner, something kept hitting his back at a fluid motion as his ears picked up on a ringing sound that slowly morphed into yelling and talking. Once he coughed up all the water he gasped, taking in large amounts of oxygen back into his lungs. His eyes slowly opened as tears from coughing up so hard dropped down his fur.

His hazy and dizziness calmed down eventually, reveling his eyes to the sigh of outside, morning sun slowly making its way up into the sky, while being surrounded by a group of mice. Confused he looked around to see the dark tinted mouse he had come to know, Milo. Milo had been petting his back, " Whew, we thought ya we're a goner. Good thing Harmony learned how ta' do CPR from the nurse back home." Harmony poked her head from behind the side of Milo, seeing if he was okay.

" Wh-wh...What happen?" He coughed out weakly.

" Well, we woke up an' decided to catch some minnows. We have a big ol' net an' caught ya instead from a small river from a pipe nearby. What in the bloody hell is goin' on? Every time we go near Root Town, we keep seein' these mice we know from our ol' town. We uh don't get along, so yeah. We looked around for any hamster but you're the first one we've seen in the past days."

" Rexfor-I mean a rat took over, pfth and-" He was cut off by a now angered Milo.

"... That scum-bag... Okay, first tings first. Can ya lead us to the town? I be guessing ya were all kicked out." Spat nodded.

" Yeah but, I feel really tired. I don't think I can walk." He looked down. They heard a jingle nearby, it was Jubal sitting on the mice's small cart with his ferret friend was carrying around like a horse.

" I can help with thaaaat~! He sang out merrily, as Milo placed Spat, Harmony and himself on the back of the cart while Jubal strummed his lute, with the mice walking with the ferret and cart.

Spat told the bard where exactly the hamsters were, thankfully since Jubal traveled around so much, he got the gist of where that log was. Spat tilted his head slightly as he looked to Milo, " You guys know Mister Jubal?"

Harmony hummed to the tune of the song while Milo nodded, answering the small hamster, " Yeah. He use to try m' deliver things from Fountain Falls to Root Town, along with the other small animal towns. We met him wanderin' 'bout n' let him be with us at night in case somethin' tried attackin' them. But anyways enough about that. You said a rat has taken over Root Town?" He got a slow sad nod from Spat. Milo's response was a slight growl, " Rexford..."

" Y-You know him?!" Spat exclaimed.

" Know 'em?! He's my bloody uncle!" Milo yelled out furiously.

Spat then put two and two together finally realizing something, " Wait... He said that he became king after his brother had an accident and then chased the son out from the kingdom, pfth..."

" That be right. My father was king, N' he killed 'em. He came after me right afta', but I lost 'em with the help of these mice who I grew up around with. Tch dad always said they'd be a bad influence on me, bein' a gang n' what not. But they ain't. 'Specially since I didn't get along to well with the group I was supposed to be with, alongside Rex."

" Wait, wait, hold up, pfth! How is a mouse related to a rat?!"

Milo rubbed the back of his neck, this comment made Harmony snap out of her delightful hums. " Well... Me father and his father were rats. Me mum was... I-I am a rat, but not like Rex. More like me grandpa, I believe in what's right! N' that's why I have Harmony with me. She symbolizes how our species can cooperate with others."

Spat looked at him, skeptically, " So your actually a rat? I thought you were just a darker version of a mouse. Then are you lying about you found Harmony? Why does Rexford hate you so much-What happen, pfth?!"

Milo let out a deep sigh before clasping his paws together, " Alright, story time. I was born a runt, ehh, kinda like how you are. My dad use ta be friends with Yenene's father, but we stopped visiting once Yenene's father got ill n' passed away. So I started playin' with a tough gang, aka, these fella's 'ere. Dad wanted me to be more formal, while Rex wanted to be royal. So, Rex convinced me father to prove myself from what I've learned from the gang. If I couldn't be a bloody posh n' proper king, than, I'd be a cunning n' strong king instead. Me, couple of guards, n' Rex went to Root Town n' well..." Milo's ears swayed downwards. " We did some tings that I regret. We had to go 'n steal somethin' that was stolen from me dad's great somethin' grandfather-"

He was soon cut off by Spat, " The evil cap?"

" Huh, very clever, you is. But yes. However, the museum was owned by a couple. I went looking for the cap while the others distracted them. Unfortunately I didn't realize, distraction meant slittin' their throats." He said grimly, Spat noticing Harmony was now looking away with a troubled expression. " They called me down, lettin' me know they had found the hamster's tiara, n' that I could go through their stuff since the couple would never be able to again. I was really pissed off n' just wanted to leave, not givin' a crap. I found the cap in a cupboard, in the paws of lil' Harmony here, scared n' confused. So, I took her instead. Feelin' guilty for what we had done. I hid the cap away and eventually went home with the tiara n' Harmony. Course dad was pretty upset, n' Rex was fumin'. But I told him I could prove meself, as a lovin' n' kind king. He agreed, n' Rex yelled that I was weak... He killed off me dad, then went after me, so he could finally be king. Me n' my gang vanished with Harmony, keepin' her safe, n' leavin' Fountain Falls. The reason I wanted to talk to her one day was 'cuz I wanted to show n' tell her 'bout her real family. N' again, I'm really sorry, for everythin'."

Harmony zoned back into the conversation, scooting over as she hugged onto Milo, " And that's why I forgive you!" The small rat smiled as he ruffled her fur. Spat had just been listening the entire time, but now was the time for more questions.

" Wait... Before we moved out, Yenene said something about Oliver? Whose Oliver? Do you have a brother? A-and if you're sorry, and Harmony forgives you, pfth. The-then how come Rexford's not sorry ab-about what he did to me, pfth?!"

Milo's ears perked up, looking at Spat, concerned and confused, " Oliver? Heh, that's my real name. I changed it so Rex couldn't find me. But that dun' matter. What do ya mean, what he did to ya?" He squinted his eyes as Spat told him about how he got away from being a 'toy', letting Owen replace his spot. Though he didn't know exactly what that meant and was too timid to tell him what had happen to him that one time. Milo's face turned into a horrified stare. This even made the ferret stop so that the hamster and mice could look over, with almost the same faces as they looked to Spat. Harmony was the only one who was confused as Spat as they watched the vacant stares.

Spat blinked a bit," ... What?"

The cart started moving again and the mice continued, ignoring or rather avoiding the subject all together, Milo glared at them as they left their leader to discuss the matter at hand with Spat. " Oh boy... Uhm... Did he ever... Uhm, lick ya or touch ya?"

" Everyone touches everything, but yeah he licked me. And then I...Uh, kinda..." Spat started to get uncomfortable, not wanting to remember what happen in the past. Thankfully Milo was able to let him and Harmony know what was wrong, sinful, and just how right it was to hate that. Of course Spat was very upset by this, and now knew why he was harmed, all because Rexford had a sick agenda in mind. Along with all that 'love' talk just kept rattling around like it was just a useless word to reassure simple minded children. Or what, that was what Spat perceived it by anyways.

They finally made it to the log, many hamsters had been scouring around for Spat, and were more than thankful to see him, while the king was grateful to see Milo. After the small hamster told the king what they had done to him, trying to drown his life out, along with getting married to finally reconstruct the town. Yenene snapped out of his peaceful ways and announced that they might have a fight on their paws. Unfortunately many towns folk declined since they were not equipped or trained to handle weapons. Oreo and Spat knew very well where to obtain weapons, while Milo and his troop would more than happily train the hamsters. Oreo showed the king his hidden stash of weapons he had made for a hobby, sure the king was upset that he had snuck these behind his back, but now was a good time to have them, and for that he was very thankful for the hoard of weapons. By the end of the next five days, they were all ready to crash the wedding.


	13. Love Is A False Concept

The day of the wedding was surprisingly cold to the touch outside from Root Town, however inside and under was a large feast being celebrated in the main courtyard of the castle. Rexford looked upon the mice who were having a lovely time, making a smile spread across his lips. Today was the day that he'd truly own this town and marry the love of his life. Beryl would be at his side and live out her ways as she always wanted. The only one who wasn't at the party was Owen who had been locked up securely at the old abandoned home where Spat had his incident with the rat king.

Owen would have tried many things to get out, possibly run, but if he did, he would possibly put his friends and his own life in danger. The two rulers had invested so much trust mixed with threats, that they left him there with no guards. Sure it sounds stupid, but now he could see how relentless Beryl truly was, and he'd rather not risk his chance. A door rattled as he sat there on an old torn up couch, his ears perking up, hearing the jiggle of the door handle. Had some mice come to bail him out, or maybe give him some food? Instead of the door opening as he expected, the handle dropped onto the floor as a paw slinked through the new opening, and pushed the door inward. Behind the newly opened door was Oreo who looked up with a sly smile as he held up a tool that broke the knob and lock. " Oreo? What the hell are you doing here?! Get out! If they catch yo-" Oreo pulled the door back, reveling many towns folk behind him with various weapons Oreo had stored away.

" They won't. We're catching them." Oreo walked over to the messy table, picking up Owen's sword that he sadly put down. He tossed the handle to him, Owen instinctively catching it in mid-air. " How's about a little revenge and take back what's ours?" With a grin Owen hopped to action, running outside to meet with the other hamsters who had already set their plans. However, this wasn't going to be an ambush due to the king's tranquility, and Milo's knowledge that some of the mice were doing this just so they could live, maybe even help their families who were left to rot at Fountain Falls.

" How'd you guys get in here so quietly?" Owen asked Milo and the king.

Milo smirked, " Please, if there's one thing I know about my uncle is that he loves parties. That includes inviting everyone."

Owen nodded as he listened to the explanation, " Right so, do we have any other plans?"

Yenene walked to Owen holding a large shield out, " We in fact do. Coppola will get to the emergency water valve above where the light pours onto the central statue. We suited him in fine armor and a helmet so when he's climbing the dome's ladder, he won't get shot down. If he falls however, it will most likely be him falling into the water. That's why we'll have Sean stay at the edge. If he doesn't fall, , he'll toss down the fireworks we use in the festivals." The king explained as he pointed to steps that jutted out, eventually them leading up and over the dome to the center area. It would take quite a while, but it was their only shot to drown out their town. " Once he throws down the fireworks, that will tell us to retreat. Once we get across a bridge and flee, they'll think they've won. Across the bridge, Graham and Archer will start up the emergency sparklers from the trinket store, letting Coppola know that we're ready to run out and close the doors around the tree."

" Good plan, and these mice aren't the best fighters, so I'm sure we won't get to badly hurt, considering you guys have good armor. But there is one problem. Rex is pretty good with his main weapon he keeps showing off and gloating about. Couldn't even spar without getting knocked back by the pitchfork. He keeps it in the barracks but it's hidden. I could never find it, and besides that, he'd kick me out from seeing inside that place. He could easily harm someone."

Milo listened to Owen thinking, " We could send in two hamsters ta find it, that way they can throw it into the wata' at the town's edge. Me, you, n' Yenene could help find it after we begin a battle since it'll be the first ting my uncle goes afta'. We could be ya backup, makin' sure he dun' get to ya. So, any volunteers?"

The hamsters wouldn't budge until one raised his paw without hesitation, " Me, pfth. I want to get back at him."

Owen objected, " Spat, no, you're to youn-"

" To young? TO YOUNG?! I think I've been through a bit more than you give credit Owen! I managed to survive and get us all here! I'm not a little helpless kid, pfth! I'm a warrior like you!"

Owen paused before sighing lightly, " Your right. You are like me. But we still need someone with you, just in case, as well as another pair of eyes."

Oreo stepped over to the two, wielding out a large charred hammer from having hit molten metal, " I know that place from the inside out, I'll help him." Once everything was set in stone, they all moved out. Coppola started to climb up the jutted out steps. Graham and Archer scurried to the trinket store while Spat and Oreo made their way to the barracks. Everyone else went straight to the castle's gate.

Back at the main courtyard, an elderly mouse tapped their glass, of course not getting the attention, Beryl yelled out to the mice before all their conversations ceased. The elder cleared out his throat as Rexford and Beryl walked to both sides of him, " Now. For what we really came for here. The royal matrimony of our brilliant king Rexford and the humble queen Beryl!" As the mice around clap and watched them, the large rat knelt down gently slipping a ring onto Beryl's tiny finger, making her blush up. " Do you, Rexford, take Beryl to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

Rexford stood up smiling as he held the hamster's paws in his own, " I do."

" And Beryl. Do you take Rexford to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

The brown coated hamster nearly squealed out from excitement, " I do!"

" Now, is there any reason why these two shalt be married? If not, then please hold your peace and reside these two in celestial harmony-" Right as the line was finished a small pointed stick flew across the couple, nearly slamming into the elder's face, but rather going up, just above his forehead. Gasps and cried out shocks were heard around as the two slowly turned to see the stick, now stuck in the doors that led inside the castle. The elderly mouse shuddered before collapsing onto his bum, scared of what he saw behind the party mice. He quietly pointed in the direction, earning everyone to look just outside the castle's opened gates. Outside stood an army of hamsters, all dressed in shiny never used polished armor, wielding various weapons that were still sharp from the day they were made. Those who stood before the army was the former band, along with the king and his assistants who lived with him. Owen stepped out, in front of the group, drawing his sword out.

" I do! Because, they both don't deserve any of this and have taken what is ours, as well, as harming our friends and family!"

The rat king snarled out, " We had a deal! I'll give you one more warning for your stupid petty town to get out or else!" His eyes leered at Owen who happily stepped to the side, letting Milo walk next to him.

" Or else what?!" The mice gasped, some even falling out from their chairs or dropping food. " That be right ya scoundrels! Oliver is alive! I be guessing that ol' Rex here told ya all I was dead! HUH?! Well I can certainly assure ya, I ain't! The true heir to the throne of Fountain Falls has been livin' on the outskirts, hiden' from this rat! Well, I'm tired of hidin'! Now I some of you still have your dignity and knowledge of right from wrong! Those who have only agreed just to be free from poison, starvation, or the well being of the family they are trying to move out from Fountain falls, hear me out! Ya dun' hafta' to be lead on by dis lumberin' ruffian! Come fight beside us! Do what is right that this town hasn't deserved! We can fix dis! We can fix Fountain Falls if ya stand by my side, as well as me friends'! Fight for what's right!" He yelled out, equipping his box quickly, " N' if not. Then don't expect any mercy just as Rex here didn't give any ta my dad!" Several mice looked from side to side, while others stood their ground. They got glares from Rex and Beryl, while getting looks of determination from Milo and Owen.

" If you idiots leave, then you're leaving for death!" Rexford shouted out, making them scared stiff. All except for one mouse who sat with two others. He stood up, getting shocked expressions from the two so called friends. " WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rexford demanded as the lonely guard stared him directly in the face, no fear visible in his eyes.

" I'm doing what's right." He stated, walking off and joining the sides of the hamsters. The two guards laughed at him, fascinated with his stupid choice and idea of opinion. However the two slowly stopped as several other mice left to aid the hamsters. Finally, a small group of twenty five mice stood there, throwing down their hoodies, determined while the rest stayed with their king.

Rexford growled, " FINE! Leave you cowardice traitors! MICE! TO ARMS!" With a fling off his claw, the mice and two rulers ran into the castle to gather some equipment. It wasn't long before mice swarmed out from the palace with weapons, however they had zero armor since they worked in numbers overpowering instead of packing up like the hamsters had. The hoard of mice dashed out to the center where the hamsters and kind hearted mice spread out swinging their weapons as the battle began.

Some mice were hit off guard by some tiny javelin spears, letting other hamsters beat them down while they focused on the stinging bruised skin. A mouse's attention was caught by the pesky Asiling who was using another better variation of Spat's javelin shooter. The mouse snarled and ran to the small hamster coated in brown and white. This made her run off while being chased with a sword swinging near her. She booked around a corner and vanished once the mouse came around it. Out in the middle was nothing, but small boxes had been placed around the small clearing. As the mouse was about to investigate, a pebble hit him from behind, making him turn around to see nothing. Yet another pebble hit him in the cheek, deterring his direction again, only to find nothing. More pebbles were thrown at him, making him defend himself by putting his arms in front of his face to see where they rocks flew from. He caught just a glimpse before a large amount of kid hamsters hopped out from the boxes holding daggers out to the mouse. He was surrounded as they approached closer, cautiously. He held out the blade, but soon dropped it as a javelin hit his paw. Aisling was standing behind a box, having a good aim for the kids to surround him entirely as one grabbed his sword. The mouse puts it's paws up, surrendering to the children of the boxes.

" Get on the ground, kwee!" The small hamster demanded. The mouse got to their knees, about to lay on the floor defeated until the sound of metal slide together was heard. Everyone looked over to see several heavily armed mice closing in on Aisling. Aisling gulped, backing up to the box, shakily holding the device. The mice swung at her, but within an instant something blunt hit the blades out from their owner's paws. Iris had slide into the space in front of Aisling, slapping the blades away with a large hard wooden staff. She motioned Aisling to go to the other kids while the mice took the time to grab their weapons. The staff swung all around, hitting the mice head to toe with a fluent and quick movement as it spun around to each destined target. Finally the mice crumpled down into a submissive state from being hit so hard and hit so many times. Iris spun her staff before putting it by her side in her paws, looking back to the kids, giving them a thumbs up while some surrounded the mouse. Others moved over the boxes, surrounding the newly fallen mice, and taking their blades.

Nearby the crew of children being led by the maid was Graham and Archer climbing onto the roof of the trinket store, opening the flat roof's latch where they normally set the sparklers up on special occasions. Graham hopped into the store gathering the sparklers as Archer readied his crossbow, aiming as he scouted around the edge of the roof. Once he saw a mouse start to climb up, he would shoot them then reload., " Hurry up Graham!" He called out while the other royal guard shoved the sparklers up through the latch, finally climbing out himself, closing it. " Why did you get so many?" Archer asked, shooting another mouse that made their way up the side.

" Hey, it's better than one. Sides, what if it falls in the water? This way, we got extras!" The squinted eye hamster happily told the other, only getting an eye roll as a response. " Now all we gotta' do is wait here and-" He was cut off by a large mouse kicking him to the edge. He managed to latch onto the edge of the roof, Archer spun around only to nick the mouse in the shoulder. As the mouse held the wound the hamster ran over, helping his fellow guard up. " Whew, thanks Arc-WHAT IN TARNATION?!" They both looked over seeing the large mouse carry a hefty axe, cutting the sparkler's ends off with a swift chop. The axe user turned around, swinging the axe overhead to them. Archer rolled one way while Graham slid the other. The mouse gripped the axe tightly, nearly clipping Archer's tail. The mouse was preoccupied with trying to get the range weapon user out of the way first. It held up the axe before the hamster could reload his crossbow. Suddenly the mouse dropped the heavy axe and fell over, reviling Graham's own axe in their back. Graham grabbed his axe's shaft and pulled it out from the mouse.

" Oh man... Thanks."

" Don't mention it. Just pay for dinner next time we eat hahaha!" Again Archer only gave him an irritated glare before the two concerned themselves about the sparklers. Across from where the two guards were, was Steen fighting with some hamsters against a group of mice. The use to be drunk was finally back in shape as he fought off weapons wielders with his bare fists. That was until quite a few more drew their swords, approaching the band member side to side. Steen backed up to a corner of boxes, turning around quickly to draw out his hidden weapon he had saved behind the crates. He spun back to the mice, holding out a large silvered... spoon.

" HAHA! Fear The Great Spoon! Best be afraid now suckers!" He held up the massive spoon with ease while the mice stopped their march. They all started to burst out into pure laughter of the concept of a spoon would be a deadly weapon. While they were busy cackling, the spoon swung to one mouse's head, cupping the head, dragging the body and slamming the mouse into the wall. The mice held their laughter as Steen hit another with the extended end, right up their chin, making them fly backwards. It didn't take long for Steen to overcome the group by himself, until an arrow flew by his face. A mouse archer was nearby, and the mighty spoon wouldn't be able to reach the mouse, and that archer was set up, viewing over Steen. With a pull of the string the archer aimed, but shot to early, letting the arrow sink into the ground. Steen saw the nurse who had treated him behind the mouse, having a scalpel gone through its neck. The mouse tumbled over as the nurse stood there with the bloodied scalpel, waving to Steen. " Ahaha... Ew, gross." Steen chuckled nervously to the nurse.

Just above them was Coppola who was heavily geared in metal, slowly climbing his way to the center of the dome's ceiling. He stopped to take in some deep breaths before continuing on. This was before an arrow hit his back, bouncing off from the metal. The hit made him wobble a bit but he kept moving. Cries were heard below him from mice who kept shooting at him. The arrows were doing nothing, and he was making progress. One mouse squeaked to the others, shooting an arrow right at the dirt ceiling in front of Coppola which made him halt his movement. More arrows were shot into the soil, making a small obstacles of arrows in front of the next step like a tiny gate. The hamster grabbed an arrow, still clinging onto the step, trying to pull it out from the dirt. While doing so more arrows were shot to him, hitting his back and hand, and eventually almost spearing his paw that was trying to budge the arrow. This made him nervously budge back, making a foot slip on a step. He would have fallen if he hadn't been clinging to the step with his other paw. But with more arrows coming to him as well as carrying a heavy pack was making him slip. Finally he let go and plummeted into the water below. Sean had been kicking and fighting mice into the water where they soon drowned, but after seeing the large splash the metal created in the water made him stop and dive into river surrounding the town.

The swimming hamster dove to Coppola who was being dragged down from the weight. Sean got to him, pulling out a dagger to cut the rope off in the front that had been tied to secure the armor. Once the metal was off Sean carried him to the surface on a small dock with a ladder that led back up to the town. Coppola coughed up water as he thanked the diver, still happy to have his Viking spiked helmet on his head. " Dammit. I don't have the armor. I'm never going to reach up to the center now! I could move faster, but then I'd have to deal with the arrows blocking the way." He pointed up, Sean sighing in defeat.

" Shit. It's too risky. We'll have to tell Yenene and Owe-" As he was about to finish a mouse had tripped over the edge of town, landing on Coppola's head, being skewered from the two needle sharp spikes and bouncing off into the water. Coppola sat back up rubbing his neck seeing if he got whiplash from the other rodent. Sean sat there shocked yet impressed, " Wow..."

As all of this was going on, Spat had been searching the high fenced off barracks inside the buildings and outside in the field it surrounded where guards trained. Oreo kept a keen eye on the gate while he too searched for Rex's weapon. Oreo sprinted to the gates once banging was heard on them. The blacksmith quickly opened the gate's tiny door for those inside to see who was outside. He wore Archer's goggles in case whoever on the out skirts would try and stab him through the slot. " It's just us, let us in." Noted Owen right outside with Milo and Yenene right behind him, looking around to see if any mice had hashed them. As Oreo let them in Owen quickly explained to him, " We saw Rex run into the castle as well as the mice. Mice came out with weapons but we didn't see Rex leave, so we came as quickly as we could with the riot at town center going on. What's the status?"

" We haven't found it yet, but now that your here, we have some more eyes." Milo pushed the two hamsters through the gates, quickly shutting them and putting a plank in the door's handles.

" We got company, lotsa' mice. How would ya like to deal with 'em?" He asked as Owen thought to himself before smirking.

The plank of wood that was set through the door's handles started to bend and snap as the gate was continually being pushed on by the force outside. The plank finally gave in and crackled as it split in half. Mice poured in with swords, axes, daggers, and bows at their paws, ready to weave them through an enemy. They searched around the field and edges of the building in front, only to find an empty zone and a quiet fountain near the middle of the area. Just then They heard clattering above them at the building's balcony. Owen, Spat, and Milo jumped from the balcony wielding their Owen weapons. As they fell to the ground floor Milo quickly shot arrow after arrow through the mice who were closest to where they were about to land. Spat managed to hop onto a mouse's head, spearing them with two small sabers before hopping down and swinging at the mice's ankles, making each drop down where Owen could send a finishing blow with his sword. Some mice who had entered the first floor of the building were met with a quickly blow to the skull by a mallet and hammer Oreo wielded, while others were shoved out furiously by Yenene behind his large shield.

Once the crowd of mice was taken care of while a small handful ran out from the heavily walled up barracks, Yenene stepped out panting, " Ye-yeah! You better get out of our kingdom!" Milo walked up to the king, seeing if he was alright or if he got a small cut from the mice. Thankfully he hadn't been scratched at all.

" Guys I found it!" The four looked up to the balcony to see the blacksmith who had kept looking actually held up a blackened pitchfork up. " Told you guys I knew this place from the inside out!"

" Yes! Great job Oreo!" Owen called out as the other three happily watched the inverted colored hamster hold the large and heavy weapon. As Oreo was about to jump down to reunite with his group, something tugged him, not letting him hop down. He looked over his shoulder to see a large pink scaled tail wrapped around his wrist that held the pitchfork. The tail belonged to its owner who was sitting on the wall of the barracks. Milo quickly knelt down pulling out an arrow, aiming it at the rat, but was soon pushed back by Oreo who was tossed at him with great force by the tail. Rexford jumped down to to balcony and then onto the floor of dirt snarling, holding his weapon.

" That's it! I don't care if Beryl likes you! I don't care about your royalty! And I don't care about you!" He spat out his words to Owen, Yenene, and Milo, ignoring the other two hamsters. Oreo groaned from being tossed, only to slam into Milo. Yenene ran over to his side, pulling the knocked out hamster off, making sure the two were okay. Milo obliged and swiftly stood back up, going to Owen's side who held his sword up. Spat meanwhile hid behind the small fountain freezing up from the site of the ruthless rat. The rat's pitchfork clashed against Owen's blade, all the while as the rat maneuvered around Milo's arrows. They kept this up for a while until Rexford's tail swung at Milo, hitting him off guard, making him drop the bow entirely as he was slammed into the wall, his back harshly hitting the quiver. Milo's breath was knocked completely out of him, to which Yenene rushed to the smaller rat's side after pushing Oreo behind some hay.

With Milo out of the fight, the rat's tail shifted under Owen's feet, the hamster losing his balance, still gripping the swords handle. Rexford soon delivered a powerful uppercut, forcing the hamster to fly up and drop his weapon. Owen landed on his back groaning in pain while the tail slider around his neck, dragging him up and wrapping tightly. Owen gasped out and flailed around as the tail tightened itself around his neck, threatening to crush his windpipe. Yenene got up but soon fell back down as Rexford managed to throw an arrow from a dead mouse's quiver nearby. He hissed out, holding his leg. " Ahahaha! I told you, this kingdom is mine and Beryl's! It will always be ours! We will spend every day with each other, without you!" Rexford cackled out as Owen tried to claw at the strong tail that held him up. His tiny claws barely even scratched the surface as he struggled, now losing his breath. " Don't worry." The tail brought him close to the rat's own snout, " I'll take care of her, the kingdom, and your 'king'" He chuckled darkly as Owen started to black in and out. However he was soon able to breathe again as he tumbled to the ground, hearing a shrill cry call out from the rat. Rexford backed away, clutching a now half bloodied cut tail end. He wailed out cursing as he held onto the half remaining tail. The other half was now wriggling around on the dirt. Owen backed away, regaining his breaths, confused and disoriented to what had just occurred. There stood Spat near Rexford holding up Owen's large blade, shakily. Spat dropped it and kicked it over to its original owner. The small hamster jumped onto the rat's back, snatching the velvet purple cap, then dropping down. " ARGH! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?! No matter, I'll take veeeery special care once I get you, you little bitch!"

Before chasing the small hamster he gasped, patting his head. He felt kinda empty without something royal on his head, signifying his status. He ran over to Yenene and Milo, snatching the king's crown, only to turn around and chase Spat up the side stairs to the balcony, " COME BACK HERE!" He angrily shouted, trying to thrust the pitchfork, missing and only stabbing the wood of the stairs with a great amount of force, making them snap.

When the mice had started fighting with the hamsters, Harmony was being held as a kid who was currently being babysat by three of Milo's comrades. She huffed while they kept a look out in case they had to fight off some mice to keep the small girl safe. All backs turned to the hamster, weapons out in the front. The albino hamster brushed her cheeks in an irritated manner as she thought to herself. Milo had gone into battle and here she was not being helpful to anyone. This was her real home, it was in danger, everyone was in danger and yet she had to sit there. With a spark of determination she slowly crept away from the three who guarded her, soon running off. One mouse asked her how she was holding up, only to find she had vanished, making them shocked and in panic. Unfortunately a group of other mice dashed to them, knowing to strike at those not wearing the hoodies of Rexford. So the three fought back, loosing track of watching over Harmony.

Harmony stopped, panting lightly as she sat down behind a house. Her ears perked up as she heard rustling nearby. She peeked over the corner of the house to catch Rexford, beryl, and several mice climbing out from the blacksmith's roof which was directly behind the castle. Rexford ordered the mice to go on without him while he kissed his lover before running off to the barracks. Harmony made a disgusted face to herself, how could something so rotten actually fall in love? Both were horrible, they didn't deserve it, not one bit. She calmed down as she watched Beryl fuss with the tiara, then leaned over a crate searching for something. Harmony inhaled deeply before skittering up to the brown hamster, jumping on her back, making Beryl's fall face first into the crate. Harmony snatched the tiara, soon running away, knowing she'd be in a chase soon enough. And she was right, Beryl swung her head back, some small cuts covering her face from what was inside the crate. She snarled out, grabbing what she was searching for. She pulled out a scythe and chased the young hamster in furious rage, " YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

Spat ran up to the balcony, holding the cap tightly as he looked back at the impending doom that was catching up with him. Rexford grinned and spoke gently as he approached Spat who backed up enough to where he almost fell from the balcony's edge. " Spaaaat~. Give me the cap. If you do, I won't hurt you. Please~? I'm not mad about you cutting my tail, I deserved that. Now just hand me the cap..." Spat's tiny hear beated rapidly, should he give up the cap? Or fall off the ledge? Was it possible he could fall and latch onto the railing that led to the opening on the balcony, and still have the hat? He gulped as Rexford drew closer, pitchfork dangerously getting close enough to be able to reach out and stab him. Spat gritted his teeth, turned around and hopped off the edge as he put the cap on. In that instant he was able to catch himself on the railing of the balcony, still having the cap in his possession. Rexford angrily ran to the small opening, looking down, not seeing the young hamster down there, but seeing him right near him holding onto the railing. " FINE! I WILL HURT YOU AFTER ALL!" He shouted as he raised the pitchfork overhead. Milo made a mad dash to his weapon after regaining himself, the same for Owen as well. But before Milo could shoot the arrow, Rexford had slammed the pitchfork into the railing making it crumble with Spat still holding on. The wood fell to the ground, soon followed by the rat king who was expecting Spat to be underneath the broken pile of wood. Much to his surprise, Spat wasn't there. He looked around, eyes zipping all around before noticing the small hamster was just above him floating there. Spat was just as shocked as everyone else, he way floating... Tiny darkened aqua colored bat wings were flapping nonstop to hold up Spat.

Yenene gasped out, quietly whispering to himself, " 'The Infelicitous one'... Just as the tales said. That who has pure hate in their heart could harness the power of the magical cap." The rat soon shook off his shock and began trying to stab the flying hamster with his pitchfork, obviously missing as Spat's wings moved him quickly, protecting their new owner. As this happened, now was the opportunity for Owen to strike while Rexford was preoccupied. The orange tinted hamster charged at the rat king while Milo stood back up, reassuring Yenene he was fine while he set up the bow and arrow. Right as Owen drew closer, the rat's ears picked up the pitter-patter of the hamster. He swung around the pitchfork right as Owen got near, piercing his torso. The warrior halted, taking in a harsh gasp of air as the three prods of the pitchfork held him in place. " OWEN!" The king cried out as Owen dropped his weapon.

Spat floated there mortified to see that who he loved unconditionally be speared right below him, " NOOOOO!" He cut himself off as Rexford lifted Owen up still being skewered by the weapon. Milo swiftly aimed at the rat, to which Rexford held Owen in front of him, " Ah, ah, ah. You want to shoot your friend?" Milo lowered his bow shakily in response. Spat fluttered down, remaining in silence as Rexford was having too much fun slowly swinging Owen around on the end of the pitchfork. With a quick twist of his body, he swung Owen off the spikes, making him fly into Milo, thus hitting the wall. He didn't pay much attention to Spat since he had three of his enemies where he wanted them. He marched over while Yenene desperately picked up the large shield, jumping in front of the two others.

The rat laughed out, " Oh, that's cute." He pointed out before thrusting the pitchfork at the small group, Yenene doing his best to keep the shield up as it began to wear off after some powerful blows. Milo held Owen as he watched in dismay of Rexford constantly stabbing the shield over and over.

When Rexford had arrived at the barracks, little Harmony kept up the pace to keep out of harm's way from the crazy and chaotic Beryl. Thankfully nearby was Jubal who was merrily singing and playing his loots as he gallantly moved around, hitting mice with the instrument. " MISTER JUBAL!" She ran to his side as he finished up by bashing a mouse in the cheek.

" Hey Miss Harmony, shouldn't you be hiding?" He asked in a calm and soothing voice, not a care in the world about danger around.

" There's a cwazy wady after me! I need to get to Miwo! I need Miss Barbra's help to get there weally fast!" She explained with much haste. Jubal nodded happily, whistling for his steed who poked her head around a house with a mouse in her jaws. She spat it out, the mouse groaned dizzily as it lay there with no punctures or blood. The ferret ran to her friend happily wagging her tail.

" Barbra, let Little Harmony here ride you and lead you to Milo."

As Jubal helped Harmony up onto the ferret's back she questioned, " Uhm, I thought she would eat mice?"

" She's on a strict insect diet, I only feed her meat from cans or thrown out. We may be pacifists but with all this goin' on, we would happily fight alongside without killin'. Now go girl, go~!" He strummed his loot before the ferret ran off with Harmony clinging to her fur. Harmony instructed where to go as they passed by Beryl who had somewhat lost track of Harmony. Once seeing the large blur and small white fur, she immediately ran after them.

The three cornered rodents all opened their mouths, looking up with pure fear, not by the rat, but by something far more sinister. Rexford stopped as he acknowledged the expressions, scoffing, " Oho, right. Like I'm going to fall for the whole, something bigger is behind me routine." He chuckled as he raised the pitchfork yet again. He didn't swing it down however, since he felt something cold cross his feet. He carefully looked down, seeing water under him. He slowly turned around, confused, only to witness the sight of a large monstrous beast that lumbered over him. The monster was so big that one of its feet sat there upon the now broken fountain, making the water flow around the dirt. The thing had gnashing twisted teeth, large lumbering arms, massive legs, a towering pointed tail, huge splayed back ears, ferocious claws, and small horns standing tall on its forehead. It wore the evil cap which had grown with the size, both antenna like horns, twisting inward. The wings of the beast's back perched right behind it, showing off how massive it was. While all the while, dark gleaming eyes hid behind a long snout. The eyes looked demonic in a way, with only pure hatred showing as it looked down at the rat. Rexford dropped his weapon, his breath pitching in a whimper at the mere sight of the beast. The savage beast stuck it's forked tongue out, licking it's lips as it eyed the rat. The rat quietly and carefully stepped back before turning around to run off. However the fiend caught him quickly with a colossal paw equipped with large claws. It batted him around as a cat would when it caught its prey, playing with it, until it scooped Rexford up into the air. The rat screamed out as below him, the monster opened its jaw, even unhinging it like a snake, letting the flailing helpless tyrant fall into its maw.

The small albino hamster hopped off from her ride, telling the kind ferret to head back to Jubal. She ran to the forcefully opened gates of the barracks still holding the tiara, " MIWO! MIW-Ohhh..." She skidded to a stop upon seeing the massive monster. Harmony soon fell forward right at the gate's entrance with a sickle in her back, forcing her to drop the tiara, only for it to fly up, spin around and land on her head.

Milo stood up reaching out, " HARMONY!" The beast snarled at him for shouting while Rexford's tail hung out from its mouth.

Harmony shivered as an intense sense of pain spread throughout her back. Beryl victoriously walked over, " Ha! Got you, you little-" She hadn't noticed the behemoth at the time, but when it whisked around to look down upon her and Harmony she nearly squeaked in fear. The monster didn't even blink once as it slurped up the remaining tail that dangled in its jaws. Beryl then threw Harmony to the beast, turning a hell and running off. The beast's eyes squinted as it watched Harmony struggle to get up. With a heavy sigh, smoke flowed out from its nose, it leaned over to the tiny hamster, reaching out with its claws. Milo had almost jumped to attack the thing, but was held back by the king. The monster's claw delicately pulled out the small sickle from Harmony's back, dropping it quickly as a bright light emitted from her. The beast backed away, it's face rearing up into a vicious snarl, not terribly likening the light one bit. Harmony's tiny body floated up off the ground, the wound healing rapidly on her back before the light around her sprouted her angelic feathered wings. The tiara made a halo above here which held the light that surrounded her. The sickle floated off the floor as well, shifting into a pink star tipped wand which then magically fell into Harmony's paw. She lifted her eye open, now shimmering and sparkling.

She looked at her newly devolved wings while Yenene was in pure awe, " 'The Chosen One'" Harmony's eyes scanned the monster who was close to backing up into a wall, trying to get away from the celestial light. The beast snapped it's jaws, growling at her before turning its attention to the others. It started to make its way to them, salivating and froffing at the mouth to gobble them up. However Harmony quickly flew in front of the group making the monster stiffen up.

Harmony stuck out a finger, waggling it, " No. Spat, I know it's you. It's okay now. No one's going to hurt you." Milo and Owen gasped, looking at the beast then at Yenene. They just saw it come from nowhere, suddenly behind Rexford, they didn't know it was little Spat. The creature that was Spat's ears lowered as it whimpered, shaking it's head in a confused state of mind. Harmony sighed slightly before hovering to Spat and kissing him on the snout, making his monstrous shell wither away, shrinking him into the tiny runt he was. Spat who was now in tears hiccuped, crying about what just happen, the events before hand and almost killing the other three. He was so confused, and the hat didn't help with it pouring into his mind, unlocking all his repressed anger. He looked down at his paws, trembling, seeing that they had grown sharp nails, realizing that he had become a monster. Falling to his knees he cried into his paws, wanting to hide himself away, confused of what all happened in a swirl of mixed emotions. He stopped once he felt a warm feeling around him, as he peeked through his fingers, he found Owen and Harmony holding him.

" Shhh, it's okay, calm down."

" Bu-But, but y-y-your hurt! It's a-all my faaaault!" The two kept a hold on him to calm him down, saying everything was fine. As the other two walked to the three hamsters, Graham and Archer ran over from the gate.

" KING! ALL THE SPARKLERS ARE BROKEN! WHAT DO WE DO?!" Archer exclaimed in panic, while Graham investigated the three huddled hamsters, wanting to ask questions, but would hold off on it at the moment.

Sean and Coppola dashed to the group as well, " WE CAN'T GET TO THE EMERGENCY PUMP!"

As the king and his friend rat thought, Harmony let go, waddling over to them, " I can shine a wight! Because, I am the wight tee hee~!" She giggled happily after calming Spat down.

Owen hobbled back to Milo who held him up, still alive and kicking miraculously. Spat wiped away the last of his stray tears and sniffled, " I can fly. Harmony's to sweet to hurt anyone. And sides, I can't make light."

The king gulped and sigh heavily, " All right then. We all count on you both." The children nodded before splitting up. Harmony traveled with the small group, across the bridge as they informed the others who came to deliver the news. Spat snatched Rexford's pitchfork before starting to flutter to the center where the moonlight poured into the town's center. Once at the bridge, they waited for the signal, finally seeing in the distance that small balls were thrown from the middle and soon popped into fireworks. Some hamsters called out a retreat, they soon ran to where the light was being produced from, leaving the mice under the control of the tyrant stop in confusement before cheering about their victory. Harmony swung her wand, making a beacon of light shine above, telling the hamsters and mice where to go to run out too. Yenene who carried Oreo on his back, counted each hamster and good mouse, checking everybody off. He knew everyone, and he had to know in order to be the king of this place, he was quite thankful he was made to study the town. The injured were moved to the front so that they could get out as quickly as possible. The albino hamster floated up high, whisking her new wand around, creating a shining and beaming light to be seen throughout the kingdom, signaling Spat to press the button for emergencies.

When the hamsters and mice were outside, the healthy ones were ordered around the tree, pushing in the doors and either placing rocks in front of them or simply pushing against the door. Inside the mice cheered as they thought they had scared off the hamsters for good. Beryl made it to a group of her soldiers, questioning why the celebration. As they told her, she quickly ran to the town's edge, noticing the water from the pipes were stating to spew out large amounts of water, rapidly filling up to the bridges. She ran to some mice, flailing wildly, " N-NO! NO! YOU IDIOTS! THEIR FLOODING US IN!" The mice laughed as they thought she had been joking or trying to pull a hardy prank. She yelled out, frustrated, angrily and panickly grabbing some wood and sprinting up to the castle's roof. Some mice shrugged it off before realizing there was water at their feet. All the mice panicked, trying to either hide, going to the roofs of houses, trying to find floatable objects, or banging at the doors that lead into the tree.

It wasn't long until the water filled into the houses of the town, up the dome. Mice who had been on anything that floated were met with he dome's ceiling, where water finally filled up to, either crushing them or drowning them. Spat sat there on the small platform he saw the very first day he came into town. The icy cold water was just about to touch the very edge of the platform, where he would stop it and push the reversal switch. However he heard a pained voice from beneath, below him was Beryl on her small raft. Blood seeped into the water where her legs were, her upper body clinging to the wood for her lower half kicked around in the water, " W-Wait!" Spat stopped the water once it and Beryl got to the edge of the platform, some splashing against his feet. He just stood there watching Beryl flail about, finally clinging to the platform as the small raft soaked in too much water, finally sinking below her. She panted heavily, weakly and wearily smiling up at him, " Sp-Spat... Sweetie. Pl-please listen hun. I cut my leg pretty bad trying to swim up here. I-I really need your help. I-I swear, this was all Rex's doing. I ju-just had to act so that he wouldn't hurt me, ho-honest. This is a big misunderstanding Spat."

Spat stared at her, not once moving, barely even blinking, no emotion in his eyes at all. " ... He hurt you? Where...?" He squinted his eyes, a gleam of hatred shined through.

" M-My cheeks hun, my arms, my ear, y-you know. Normal abuse, now p-please help me up."

" Oh. So you know what it's like?" She nodded quickly, " So... You know what it's like to be touched around? Battered? held against your will? Having unspeakable things be forced into your body? All in the name of 'love'?" She hesitated, her ears lowering back. This was a lie she couldn't bring up since Spat was already seeing her ploy. " So. You blame your loved one? Someone you trust, someone you hold dear to you, someone you want to spend your life with. Just to be able to live, and move on? Because I see it differently. Those who love you, protect you, sacrifice themselves in the name of love. Not to be merely blamed for insidious things that you, yourself do. Someone you care deeply for and would do anything for them? No matter what, like planning to move them out so that you could be together? Could you even really move on? There are some of those who can't. And would they do the same for you? Would they risk everything for love? Do you think it's really that easy to move on? Act like nothing happened in the past. Or were you acting like you were in love. Because I'm pretty damn sure you weren't. I saw you being truly happy, Rex the same way. A lovely bond so thick, that you two could just snuff away everyone else from your past to begin anew. And for what? Love? Power? Control? That, I'm not sure what you truly wanted. I think that you both just wanted revenge. And you hid that behind Love. Revenge of pure hatred to those who had wronged you. But that hatred and revenge eventually grew into love. Love that was so curoused in vile hatred and chaos."

Spat knelt down, " Don't worry. I know you two were actually in love and you do sincerely miss him, however your survival instinct is acting up and in shock. You both had a romantic yet immoral willed type of love. Know what love I had? Love that spent lonely nights, waiting for someone to tuck me, days where I would do nothing, having no one to hold me. Rainy days with someone to tell me, it'll be okay, and times where no one told me ' I love you' after they left. Instead I got three tastes of love. One being, someone would leave me forever. Another being, someone to comfort me when I had already done something bad. And lastly being, tough love, used as a toy alone. The word love is a very flawed concept and a meaningless word that hamsters use just to hide things behind. You and me, we're not so different. We both had love, it was destroyed, but there's one tiny difference between us..." He leaned in closely to Beryl's face, " That being... That I don't love anyone." Before the brown hamster could speak Spat slammed the pitchfork down, not even trying to spear her, just enough to pushed her down and make her stay under the water. Bubbles and splashing rose to the surface before both actions ceased. With that, Spat pulled his new weapon away, pushing the button to reverse the process.

A week later the hamsters were finally back in their own town, and homes. They had cleaned the entire place, rebuilding it even. Everyone was happy except for one hamster who sat in a hospital bed. Owen sighed as he looked out seeing his friends happily rebuild their homes. He was happy for them, but in truth missed his little friend who he acted like a big brother to, maybe even calling him as his son. He rested his head back onto his pillow, no one had seen Spat for the last week, they would have found him if he had accidentally fallen into the water as they found Beryl. A breeze swept by his ears, turning his attention to the window, he found Spat crouching there at the window's sill, his wings spreading out. Owen smiled, " Sp-Spat" He coughed lightly, " I missed you buddy."

" Yeah sure. I just wanted to say something pfth... I just wanted to say goodbye."

" You leaving the town?"

" Yeah... And don't think I don't know what the doctors said. I know you only have a month or so left."

Owen looked down, " I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you. I just wanted you to be happy before you left."

" It's fine pfth. It doesn't bother me anymore. I just wanted to tell you, this is the last you'll see of me is all."

Owen turned his head to Spat, " W-Wait. Don't you want to spend the last of my time with me? Please?"

Spat hesitated before avoiding eye contact, " No. You never did when I waited up for you." He said as he turned around to leave Owen to his thoughts.

" Listen. I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry I didn't take your advice, your warnings. I'm sorry I didn't spend as much time with you. Please don't think badly of me. I never meant to hurt you."

Spat gritted his teeth, " I've never thought badly about you. I just want to leave before I regret staying with you."

" That's fair. I love you."

" Pfth..." Spat scoffed as he jumped from the window, flying away, leaving Owen behind for good.

Several months later Spat sat at the newly sculpted statue of Owen at the town's center at night. He sat there thinking to himself, his whole outlook on life changed. He sniffled before finally breaking down into tears, hugging the stature that bared Owen's name and date, " I love you too! I miss you so much! I'm so sorry!" Spat waited for the town to fall asleep so no one would see his melt down, the cap couldn't cover his sadness one bit. The mentally weakened hamster cried before stopping. He turned around to see a small glow. The glow came from a small lantern that was held out on a stick by Harmony, Yenene and Milo both behind her. She waddled over to him to reach out, only to have Spat claw at her, almost scratching her cheek. " Go away!"

" Spat, we know your hurt. Pwease, just let us help you." She said n a calm voice.

" NO! Leave me alone pfth! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! NONE OF YOU DO! YOU'LL NEVER KNOW! LOVE IS JUST A MEANINGLESS WORD! ALL IT DOES IS MAKE THOSE WHO USE IT GO THROUGH PAIN! IS THAT WHY YOU LIKE IT SO MUCH?!" He spat out his words at her.

" No. It's because, it's a deep meaning of feeling, emotion, and connection. It's an intense feeling of deep affection that is to be cherished, that one has for you. Pwease... Just let me help you." As she approached him, Spat took off to the sky, flying out of the center of the dome and the tree into the night.

Yenene put a paw on Harmony's shoulder, " He'll be okay. He'll come around sooner or later. Just know that he and you have a magical duty now. He will want to taint and ruin love, thinking he's doing good for the world. While you must recreate and give meaning to love, fixing his mistakes. I'm sorry you have to do this, but that's how the legend goes."

Harmony sighed, smiling up to the king and Milo, " That's okay. I wike spreading love anyways. I just hope he'll get over it soon. I'll try my best to follow and help him then teehee~."

The hooded hamster hadn't even known he had left the package of seeds and had stood staring up at the statue for a while now. However some guards walked to his side, " Excuse me sir? We couldn't help but notice you littering and loitering around. We're going to have to ask you to leave." The hamster put his paws on the hooded figure.

" You don't know who I am do you, pfth?" The guards backed away hearing his voice.

The hooded hamster removed his clothes, reviling his true self, Spat the heartbreaking hamster. He threw a violet cap with antenna like horns twisting from it, up to the air. Soon landing on a dark striped that covered a mohawk with two devilish horned tufts of hair beside it. Once the cap was on, his darkened blue wings splayed out from his back, making a gust of wind to push back the guards. With a quick snap of his claws, poofed a small stick in the air which then turned into a pitchfork. He snatched it and grinned at the guards with razor sharp teeth and a new yellow glow in his pupils with slits down the middle. He cackled out, swinging the handle end of the pitchfork out, making the hamster fall back with no cuts. He laughed out manically as his wings grew out, slamming onto the ground, lifting their owner up, eventually letting him take off in flight.

The guards quickly huddled together, aiming with arrows and cross bows, " READY! AIM! FI-" The lead guard was knocked off his feet with a swift but gentle punch.

" CEASE FIRE!" The hamster stopped as their eyes fell upon their higher up, a hamster sized rat with several scars now ordering them as his red torn cape wove behind him.

" SIR YES SIR! MISTER MILO!" The hamster saluted, even the downed leader saluting to the rat.

The king walked over sighing, " I told you guys not to bug him but do you listen? Nope."

" But Sir Yenene, he's getting away!"

" Oh, leave him be. He's just a confused little hamster living in his own world, thinking no one loves him. He's fine. Just leave him alone, and he'll leave you alone. Now Oliver, I told you to stop telling them that's your name. Come back inside, the missus made us sunflower tea made from Fountain Falls." He happily told the rat, leaning on his cane.

" Ahaha, oh how could I refuse an' offa' of that? See ya later hams." He saluted to the guards who then went back to their routines.

After Rexford and Beryl, Yenene and Milo/Oliver became engaged, both ruling over a kingdom, trying to make them into one. But for now the mice and hamster of the towns have a peace treaty.

The missus; Isis had met another maid from a far away town who wanted to serve under the king and help her around from hearing the about the battle of the town. She and Isis are currently girlfriends while they both care for Aisling like a daughter.

Coppola now owns more items at the museum, and tells tourists about the battle, as many hamster and mice, even rats visit to this day.

Oreo soon went into jewelry, where he crafts the finest of decor and decorations. He still helps out with building other things and has a new hiding storage for his off time weapon making. Please don't inform the king.

Jubal and Barbra merrily visit town to town. From squirrels, lizards, hamsters, and mice, to new far off towns to make deliveries, be it letters or gifts. He also runs a small DJ station with an Iphone he found, which can be transmitted to the towns as he plays requested songs, and sometimes his own songs.

Graham and Archer stopped fighting once Isis became girlfriends with another girl and put aside their differences. The two are now happily married, thought they still tend to bicker like a married couple ironically.

Barrette finally moved out from her home town and went off, meeting The Ham-Hams and dating Seamore.

Steen finally popped the question and married his nurse who helped him out from his drunken stooper. They currently have three children who help them at the hospital.

Harmony currently resides wherever Spat goes, Fixing those he has caused any troubles to.

Spat now lives in an old abandoned mini-golf castle. He resides there by himself and to this day alone?


End file.
